title: Current developments to use linear MALDI-TOF spectra for the identification and typing of bacteria and the characterization of other cells/organisms related to infectious diseases.
abstract: Within the past few years identification of bacteria by MALDI-TOF MS has become a standard technique in bacteriological laboratories for good reasons. MALDI-TOF MS identification is rapid, robust, automatable, and the per-sample costs are low. Yet, the spectra are very informative and the reliable identification of bacterial species is usually possible. Recently, new MS-based approaches for the identification of bacteria are emerging that are based on the detailed analysis of the bacterial proteome by high-resolution MS. These "proteotyping" approaches are highly discriminative and outperform MALDI-TOF MS-based identification in terms of specificity, but require a laborious proteomic workflow and far more expertise and sophisticated instrumentation than identification on basis of MALDI-TOF MS spectra, which can be obtained with relative simple and uncostly linear MALDI-TOF mass spectrometers. Thus MALDI-TOF MS identification of bacteria remains an attractive option for routine diagnostics. Additionally, MALDI-TOF MS identification protocols have been extended and improved in many respects making linear MALDI-TOF MS a versatile tool that can be useful beyond the identification of a bacterial species, e.g. for the characterization of leucocytes and arthropod vectors of infectious diseases. This review focuses on such improvements and extensions of the typical MALDI-TOF MS workflow in the field of infectious diseases.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Virology and Cell Biology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, , Federal Research Institute for Animal Health Südufer, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany. axel.karger@fli.bund.de.
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001179:Arthropod Vectors / Q000502:physiology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000635:transmission; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Arthropods; Bacterial typing; Leucocytes; Mosquitoes; Multivariate statistics; Proteogenomics; Ticks