title: Comparison of the identification of coagulase-negative staphylococci by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry and tuf sequencing.
abstract: The increasing incidence of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) in hospital-acquired infections underlines the need for an accurate and simple identification of Staphylococcus isolates at the species level. Sequencing of the tuf gene has been shown to be the most accurate for the species identification of CoNS. We determined the species of 62 consecutive clinical and 31 reference CoNS isolates by tuf gene sequencing and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). Species assignment by MALDI-TOF-MS and tuf sequencing was congruent in all cases. We conclude that MALDI-TOF-MS is accurate for identifying CoNS in routine clinical practice. The study also identified an unexpectedly high number of cases of Staphylococcus capitis infections among 62 consecutive CoNS isolates in 2009 at the University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, room G04.614, PO Box 85500, 3508 GA Utrecht, The Netherlands. N.Carpaij-2@umcutrecht.nl
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Carpaij
authors.forename: R J L
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Willems
authors.forename: M J M
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bonten
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Fluit
mesh_terms: D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D003030:Coagulase / Q000378:metabolism; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands; D010444:Peptide Elongation Factor Tu / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / Q000379:methods*; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D003030:Coagulase; D010444:Peptide Elongation Factor Tu