Metabolism is the foundation of living cells and impacts all cellular functions. Metabolic pathway architecture varies profoundly with cellular conditions, such as cell growth, proliferation, differentiation and death [1, 2], which is mainly shaped up by the cell type functions and environment. Diverse mechanisms including signaling pathways regulate metabolism, and reciprocally, altered metabolism can act as signals and retool the cells independently [3]. Recent discoveries have shed new light on the metabolic control of multitude of cellular processes such as epigenetics [4, 5], autophagy [6, 7], apoptosis and regulated necrosis [8]. Abnormal metabolism is the underlying cause of some of the most prevalent diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cancer (Figure 1). At cellular level, proliferating or cancer cells characteristically rewire signaling and reprogram metabolic pathways to fulfill continuous anabolic high demands (Figure 2). Systematic understanding of metabolic changes in these diseases will greatly advance the science behind, identify metabolic biomarkers and devise new therapeutic targets.

Figure 1. Metabolic impacts of cellular processes and association with diseases.

Arraystar NuRNA™ Human Central Metabolism PCR Array is specifically designed for rapid and convenient expression profiling of 373 transcripts for the enzymes and proteins in the core metabolic pathways and crucial metabolites transport systems. It is a systematic and powerful tool for hypothesis-driven and exploratory analysis in metabolism research. The array covers the core metabolic pathways and metabolite transport systems include glucose transporters, glycolysis, TCA cycle, glycerol/fatty acid/cholesterol synthesis, lactate production and transporters, gluconeogenesis, glycogen metabolism, hexosamine metabolism, pentose phosphate pathway, serine/glycine/one-carbon metabolism, glutamine transporters and glutaminolysis, redox balance/GSH synthesis, fatty acid oxidation, acetate metabolism, and nucleotide metabolism. Each assay is rigorously validated across numerous tissues and cell lines. To ensure the upmost data quality, the array includes Spike-in control, Positive PCR Control, Genomic DNA Control and normalization references.

Figure 2. Schematic review of cancer metabolism.

References

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2. Green, D. R., et al. (2014) Cell biology. Metabolic control of cell death. Science, 345(6203):1250256 [PMID: 25237106]
3. Metallo, C. M. and Vander Heiden, M. G. (2013) Understanding metabolic regulation and its influence on cell physiology. Mol Cell, 49(3):388-98 [PMID: 23395269]
4. Lu, C. and Thompson, C. B. (2012) Metabolic regulation of epigenetics. Cell Metab, 16(1):9-17 [PMID: 22768835]
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