The exposome paradigm to predict environmental health in terms of systemic homeostasis and resource balance based on NMR data science

Abstract

The environment, from microbial ecosystems to recycled resources, fluctuates dynamically due to many physical, chemical and biological factors, the profile of which reflects changes in overall state, such as environmental illness caused by a collapse of homeostasis. To evaluate and predict environmental health in terms of systemic homeostasis and resource balance, a comprehensive understanding of these factors requires an approach based on the “exposome paradigm”, namely the totality of exposure to all substances. Furthermore, in considering sustainable development to meet global population growth, it is important to gain an understanding of both the circulation of biological resources and waste recycling in human society. From this perspective, natural environment, agriculture, aquaculture, wastewater treatment in industry, biomass degradation and biodegradable materials design are at the forefront of current research. In this respect, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) offers tremendous advantages in the analysis of samples of molecular complexity, such as crude bio-extracts, intact cells and tissues, fibres, foods, feeds, fertilizers and environmental samples. Here we outline examples to promote an understanding of recent applications of solution-state, solid-state, time-domain NMR and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to the complex evaluation of organisms, materials and the environment. We also describe useful databases and informatics tools, as well as machine learning techniques for NMR analysis, demonstrating that NMR data science can be used to evaluate the exposome in both the natural environment and human society towards a sustainable future.