Metabolomics applied in bioenergy

Metabolomics, which represents all the low molecular weight compounds present in a cell or organism in a particular physiological condition, has multiple applications, from phenotyping and diagnostic analysis to metabolic engineering and systems biology. In this review, we discuss the use of metabolomics for selecting microbial strains and engineering novel biochemical routes involved in plant biomass production and conversion. These aspects are essential for increasing the production of biofuels to meet the energy needs of the future. Additionally, we provide a broad overview of the analytic techniques and data analysis commonly used in metabolomics studies.