Table 2.

Some common ‘omics’ with corresponding focus and scope. The brief definitions are meant to provide illustrative descriptions only; citations provided as examples and not intended to be canonical works

Omic	Focus	Scope
Omics99	Analyzing the interactions of biological information in various ‘omes’	Applied research paradigm to produce knowledge en masse from networks of information via holistic principles and methods
Genomics100	An organism’s entire hereditary information; genome	Determination of entire DNA sequences of organisms, fine-scale genetic mapping including genes, regulatory and noncoding sequences
Proteomics101,102	Protein characterization; protein-coding regions of the genome; proteome	The entire complement of proteins produced by an organism or system, including protein structure, function, and expression
Transcriptomics103	RNA transcripts produced by the genome at any one time; transcriptome	Examines the expression level of RNA in a given cell population, which vary with external environmental conditions, including mRNA, rRNA, tRNA, and noncoding RNA
Interactomics104	Interactions between all macromolecules in a cell; interactome	Analysis and characterization of gene–gene, protein–protein, or protein–ligand interactions; development of molecular interaction maps/networks
Mechanomics105,106	Mechanical systems and processes within an organism; mechanome	General role of force, stress transfer, mechanics, and molecular machinery in biology, encompassing biological motors, mechanical structures, and processes
Materiomics [this article/issue]	Material characterization through components, structure, and function; materiome	Analysis of material systems through constitutive components, hierarchical SPP relations, cross-scale interactions, and effects on functionality