title: VibrioBase: A MALDI-TOF MS database for fast identification of Vibrio spp. that are potentially pathogenic in humans.
abstract: Mesophilic marine bacteria of the family Vibrionaceae, specifically V. cholerae, V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus, are considered to cause severe illness in humans. Due to climate-change-driven temperature increases, higher Vibrio abundances and infections are predicted for Northern Europe, which in turn necessitates environmental surveillance programs to evaluate this risk. We propose that whole-cell matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) profiling is a promising tool for the fast and reliable species classification of environmental isolates. Because the reference database does not contain sufficient Vibrio spectra we generated the VibrioBase database in this study. Mass spectrometric data were generated from 997 largely environmental strains and filed in this new database. MALDI-TOF MS clusters were assigned based on the species classification obtained by analysis of partial rpoB (RNA polymerase beta-subunit) sequences. The affiliation of strains to species-specific clusters was consistent in 97% of all cases using both approaches, and the extended VibrioBase generated more specific species identifications with higher matching scores compared to the commercially available database. Therefore, we have made the VibrioBase database freely accessible, which paves the way for detailed risk assessment studies of potentially pathogenic Vibrio spp. from marine environments.
authors.affiliation: Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, Kurpromenade 201, 27498 Helgoland, Germany. Electronic address: Rene.Erler@awi.de.
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Erler
authors.affiliation: Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, Kurpromenade 201, 27498 Helgoland, Germany.
authors.forename: Antje
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wichels
authors.affiliation: Governmental Institute of Public Health of Lower Saxony, Lüchtenburger Weg 24, 26603 Aurich, Germany.
authors.forename: Ernst-August
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Heinemeyer
authors.affiliation: Regional Office for Health and Social Affairs of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Gertrudenstraße 11, 18057 Rostock, Germany.
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hauk
authors.affiliation: University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Central Facility: Medical Investigation Office and Hygiene, Brunswiker Straße 4, 24105 Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hippelein
authors.affiliation: GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany.
authors.forename: Nadja Torres
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Reyes
authors.affiliation: Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, Kurpromenade 201, 27498 Helgoland, Germany.
authors.forename: Gunnar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gerdts
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D062126:Databases, Chemical; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D014733:Vibrio / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D014735:Vibrio Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins
keywords: Database; MALDI-TOF MS; Marine; Pathogenic; Vibrio; Whole-cell fingerprinting