NMR-based metabolomics and fluxomics: developments and future prospects

NMR spectroscopy is an essential analytical technique in metabolomics and fluxomics workflows, owing to its high structural elucidation capabilities combined with its intrinsic quantitative nature. However, routine NMR “omic” analytical methods suffer from several drawbacks that may have limited their use as a method of choice, in particular when compared to another widely used technique, mass spectrometry. This review describes, in a critical and perspective discussion, how some of the most recent developments emerging from the NMR community could act as real game changers for metabolomics and fluxomics in the near future. Advanced developments to make NMR metabolomics more resolutive, more sensitive and more accessible are described, as well as new approaches to improve the identification of biomarkers. We hope that this review will convince a broad end-user community of the increasing role of NMR in the “omic” world at the beginning of the 2020s.