title: Identification of Brucella by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Fast and reliable identification from agar plates and blood cultures.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (MS) is a reliable method for bacteria identification. Some databases used for this purpose lack reference profiles for Brucella species, which is still an important pathogen in wide areas around the world. We report the creation of profiles for MALDI-TOF Biotyper 2.0 database (Bruker Daltonics, Germany) and their usefulness for identifying brucellae from culture plates and blood cultures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We created MALDI Biotyper 2.0 profiles for type strains belonging to B. melitensis biotypes 1, 2 and 3; B. abortus biotypes 1, 2, 5 and 9; B. suis, B. canis, B ceti and B. pinnipedialis. Then, 131 clinical isolates grown on plate cultures were used in triplicate to check identification. Identification at genus level was always correct, although in most cases the three replicates reported different identification at species level. Simulated blood cultures were performed with type strains belonging to the main human pathogenic species (B. melitensis, B. abortus, B. suis and B. canis), and studied by MALDI-TOF MS in triplicate. Identification at genus level was always correct.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MALDI-TOF MS is reliable for Brucella identification to the genus level from culture plates and directly from blood culture bottles.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Investigación, Hospital Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vega Castaño
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Juanes
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: González-Cabrero
authors.forename: Fabiola
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Menegotto
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Orduña-Domingo
authors.forename: José Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: González-Buitrago
authors.forename: Juan Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Muñoz-Bellido
mesh_terms: D000362:Agar / Q000737:chemistry; D000465:Algorithms; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D001769:Blood / Q000382:microbiology*; D002002:Brucella / Q000378:metabolism*; D002003:Brucella abortus / Q000378:metabolism; D017347:Brucella melitensis / Q000378:metabolism; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D013045:Species Specificity; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000362:Agar