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editorial
. 2015 Nov 20;6:344. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2015.00344

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Different approaches for metabolic analyses. (A) Targeted and non-targeted analysis of stable isotope labeling (SIL). Non-targeted detection of isotopic enrichment requires the measurement of an enriched and a non-enriched sample. Targeted approaches usually have higher sensitivity toward target analyses, but non-targeted analyses generally yield information on more compounds. Targeted 13C-MFA provides absolute flux estimates for a given metabolic network model, but does not provide information on unknown reactions or metabolites. Non-targeted stable isotope labeling analysis can point to novel metabolic reactions and metabolites. Differential mass isotopomer distribution (MID) analysis reveals changes in metabolic fluxes in a data-driven manner. However, the mechanistic interpretation is more complex and requires in-depth biochemical knowledge. (B) Comparison of different metabolic analyses in terms of flux accuracy they provide and to which extent they allow for the discovery of novel reactions or metabolites. Non-targeted methods have a higher discovery potential, but fail to provide accurate absolute flux information.