Application of MALDI-TOF MS technology in the typing of pathogenic microorganisms

Abstract

Accurate, fast and sensitive typing of pathogenic microorganisms is very important for tracing the source of dissemination, defining the route of transmission, understanding the relationship between strains and clinical symptoms, exploring the pathogenic mechanism, guiding clinical therapy, etc. In recent years, matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry(MALDI-TOF MS) has played an increasingly important role in the microbial identification, drug resistance and virulence study because of its rapidity, accuracy, good repeatability, high throughput etc. The new microbial typing method-MALDI-TOF MS fingerprint typing appears afterwards. This typing method is characterized by high throughput, rapidity, easy standardization and low cost, and it has promising application prospect in the areas such as epidemiological analysis of pathogenic microorganism, hospital infection control and development of biological markers.(Chin J Lab Med, 2015, 38: 367-369) Key words: Proteomics; Spectrometry, mass, matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization; Microbiological techniques