Isotope tracing in health and disease

Wentao Dong; Eshaan S Rawat; Gregory Stephanopoulos; Monther Abu-Remaileh

doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2022.102739

Isotope tracing in health and disease

Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2022 Aug:76:102739. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2022.102739. Epub 2022 Jun 20.

Authors

Wentao Dong¹, Eshaan S Rawat¹, Gregory Stephanopoulos², Monther Abu-Remaileh³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; The Institute for Chemistry, Engineering & Medicine for Human Health (ChEM-H), Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA.
² Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Electronic address: gregstep@mit.edu.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; The Institute for Chemistry, Engineering & Medicine for Human Health (ChEM-H), Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA. Electronic address: monther@stanford.edu.

Abstract

Biochemical characterization of metabolism provides molecular insights for understanding biology in health and disease. Over the past decades, metabolic perturbations have been implicated in cancer, neurodegeneration, and diabetes, among others. Isotope tracing is a technique that allows tracking of labeled atoms within metabolites through biochemical reactions. This technique has become an integral component of the contemporary metabolic research. Isotope tracing measures substrate contribution to downstream metabolites and indicates its utilization in cellular metabolic networks. In addition, isotopic labeling data are necessary for quantitative metabolic flux analysis. Here, we review recent work utilizing metabolic tracing to study health and disease, and highlight its application to interrogate subcellular, intercellular, and in vivo metabolism. We further discuss the current challenges and opportunities to expand the utility of isotope tracing to new research areas.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Carbon Isotopes / metabolism
Isotope Labeling / methods
Metabolic Flux Analysis*
Metabolic Networks and Pathways*

Substances

Carbon Isotopes

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding