Chapter 13 MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry Applied to Classification and Identification of Bacteria

Publication date: 2014 Source:Methods in Microbiology, Volume 41 Author(s): Peter Schumann , Thomas Maier Since the introduction of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for classification and identification of prokaryotes approximately 20 years ago, this technique has found increasing application in medical diagnostics, pharmaceutical quality control and environmental research as well as in veterinary medicine and the food industry. MALDI-TOF MS has become a promising alternative to conventional identification techniques and is even beginning to outcompete phenotypic and sequencing technologies with respect to reliability, speed and cost. MALDI-TOF MS applications in microbiology have had a high impact on the scientific literature and various procedures for specific applications have been proposed. However, there is still a need for proven and tested protocols for how to prepare samples for problematic organisms and for suggestions on how to optimise measurement conditions in order to record high-quality spectra for unambiguous identification and typing. The discriminatory power of protein mass spectra is compared with the taxonomic resolution of established tools for classification, identification and typing of bacteria in order to define the optimal fields of application of MALDI-TOF MS.
Source: Methods in Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Source Type: research