Review

Incorporating genome-scale tools for studying energy homeostasis

R Michael Raab^1,2

¹Agrivida, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA

²Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

author email corresponding author email

Nutrition & Metabolism 2006, 3:40doi:10.1186/1743-7075-3-40

Published:	3 November 2006

Abstract

Mammals have evolved complex regulatory systems that enable them to maintain energy homeostasis despite constant environmental challenges that limit the availability of energy inputs and their composition. Biological control relies upon intricate systems composed of multiple organs and specialized cell types that regulate energy up-take, storage, and expenditure. Because these systems simultaneously perform diverse functions and are highly integrated, they are extremely difficult to understand in terms of their individual component contributions to energy homeostasis. In order to provide improved treatments and clinical options, it is important to identify the principle genetic and molecular components, as well as the systemic features of regulation. To begin, many of these features can be discovered by integrating experimental technologies with advanced methods of analysis. This review focuses on the analysis of transcriptional data derived from microarrays and how it can complement other experimental techniques to study energy homeostasis.