Springer International PublishingChamSpringer405382196-5641Chemical and Biological Technologies in AgricultureChem. Biol. Technol. Agric.Life SciencesAgricultureOrganic ChemistryPlant BiochemistrySoil Science & ConservationPlant PhysiologyBiomedical and Life Sciences1111132014122014The Author(s)20142210.1186/s40538-014-0022-02221Metabolomics applied in bioenergyReviewBiomass Usage in Brazil1920141072014331201410720141030Abdelnur et al.; licensee Springer.2014This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.PatriciaVAbdelnurpatricia.abdelnur@embrapa.brCamilaCaldanacamila.caldana@bioetanol.org.brMarinaCMMartinsmarina.martins@bioetanol.org.brEmbrapa Agroenergy - Estação Biológica (PqEB)s/nº, W3 NorteBrasíliaDF70770-901BrazilBrazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Laboratory/CNPEMRua Giuseppe Máximo Scolfaro 10000CampinasSP13083-970BrazilMax-Planck-partner group at the Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Laboratory/CNPEMRua Giuseppe Máximo Scolfaro 10000CampinasSP13083-970BrazilAbstractMetabolomics, 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.KeywordsMetabolomicsMass spectrometryBioenergy