title: [Bacterial identification based on protein mass spectrometry: A new insight at the microbiology of the 21st century].
abstract: Bacterial identification is important for the proper treatment of infected patients hospitalized with serious infections especially in critical care units. Identification by conventional methods used in microbiology laboratories takes at least 16 hours since a culture is positive. The introduction of mass spectrometry, specifically MALDI-TOF MS (matrix-assisted laser desorption/ ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer) in the microbiology laboratory could mean a radical change in the identification accuracy, turn around time (6 minutes per bacteria) and cost (about 5 times cheaper than conventional identification). Since its introduction in clinical microbiology laboratories in 2008, many reports about its usefulness in identifying microorganisms from colonies, as well as directly from positive blood cultures and urine samples have been published. This review describes MALDI-TOF MS methodology, its identification performance for bacteria (aerobic and anaerobic), mycobacterium and yeasts, its future applications in microbiology and its main disadvantages.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Microbiología, Departamento de Laboratorios Clínicos, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: Fidel
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Allende
authors.forename: Paulette
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Legarraga
authors.forename: Marcos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huilcaman
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Solari
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000097:blood / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000652:urine; D030562:Databases, Protein; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000639:trends; D009161:Mycobacterium / Q000145:classification; D010802:Phylogeny; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D015003:Yeasts / Q000145:classification
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins