Identification of molecularly defined Staphylococcus aureus strains using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry and the Biotyper 2.0 database

• Published in: Journal of medical microbiology Vol. 59; no. 7; pp. 787 - 790
• Main Authors: SZABADOS, Florian, WOLOSZYN, Jaroslaw, RICHTER, Cindy, KAASE, Martin, GATERMANN, Sören
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Reading Society for General Microbiology 01.07.2010
• Subjects: Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Databases, Factual; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Infectious diseases; Lasers; Mass spectroscopy; Medical sciences; Methicillin; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; Staphylococcus - classification; Staphylococcus - genetics; Staphylococcus aureus; Database; Bacteria; Micrococcales; Micrococcaceae; Identification; Matrix assisted laser desorption ionization; Staphylococcus aureus; Strain
• ISSN: 0022-2615; 1473-5644
• DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.016733-0

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has recently been introduced for bacterial identification. To our knowledge, this is the first study where the Biotyper 2.0 database (Bruker Daltonics) has been applied for bacterial identification in a local strain collection of molecularly defined Staphylococcus aureus. We showed that the accuracy of the Biotyper 2.0-based identification for 602 molecularly defined strains of S. aureus, irrespective of meticillin resistance, was equivalent to that of the molecularly defined reference even at a score cut-off value of 2. Also, 412 isolates of 20 different species of non-S. aureus staphylococci were all correctly identified to species level compared to the molecularly defined reference. Moreover, the MALDI-TOF MS-based S. aureus identification approach was clearly faster than more time-consuming methods such as a molecular identification approach.