Application of quantitative metabolomics in systems genetics in rodent models of complex phenotypes

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have provided remarkable advances in our understanding of the etiology of complex diseases in humans and have underlined the need to improve patients' phenotype characterization with intermediate molecular phenotypes. High resolution metabolomics is becoming an increasingly popular and robust strategy for metabolic phenotyping large cohorts of patients and controls in genetic studies, in order to map the genetic control of metabotypes in various biological matrices (organ extracts and biofluids) through Quantitative Trait Locus (mQTL) analysis. This article reviews results from ongoing research in mQTL mapping in rodent models of human complex traits, with a specific focus on the cardiometabolic syndrome, and prospects of applications of untargeted metabolomics to improve knowledge of multilevel genome expression control in health and disease and to detect potential novel biomarkers for complex phenotypes in experimental systems in mice and rats.