Abstract
Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is today the reference method for direct identification of microorganisms in diagnostic laboratories, as it is notably time- and cost-efficient. In the context of increasing cases of enteric diseases with emerging multi-drug resistance patterns, there is an urgent need to adopt an efficient workflow to characterize antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Current approaches, such as antibiograms, are time-consuming and directly impact the “patient-physician” workflow. Through this mini-review, we summarize how the detection of specific patterns by MALDI-TOF MS, as well as bioinformatics, become more and more essential in research, and how these approaches will help diagnostics in the future. Along the same lines, the idea to export more precise biomarker identification steps by MALDI-TOF(/TOF) MS data towards AMR identification pipelines is discussed. The study also critically points out that there is currently still a lack of research data and knowledge on different foodborne pathogens as well as several antibiotics families such as macrolides and quinolones, and many questions are still remaining. Finally, the innovative combination of whole-genome sequencing and MALDI-TOF MS could be soon the future for diagnosis of antimicrobial resistance in foodborne pathogens.
Highlights
Antibiotics have been increasingly used in human and veterinary medicine, to treat bacterial infections such as gastrointestinal, respiratory or urinary tract infections and septicemia [1]
A World Health Organization (WHO) report highlighted a total of 349 million registered foodborne illnesses and 187,285 deaths caused by bacteria worldwide in 2010 [6]
Campylobacteriosis is the first cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in humans worldwide [11,12], where it occurs more frequently than infections caused by Salmonella spp., Shigella spp. and Escherichia coli O157:H57 [13,14]
Summary
Antibiotics have been increasingly used in human and veterinary medicine, to treat bacterial infections such as gastrointestinal, respiratory or urinary tract infections and septicemia [1]. A World Health Organization (WHO) report highlighted a total of 349 million registered foodborne illnesses and 187,285 deaths caused by bacteria worldwide in 2010 [6] Among these pathogens, Acinetobacter spp., Bacillus spp., Campylobacter spp., Citrobacter spp., Clostridium spp., Enterobacter spp., Escherichia spp., Klebsiella spp., Listeria spp., Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Staphylococcus spp., Vibrio spp. and Yersinia spp are the main causes of such diseases [7]. Mass spectrometry may be considered as one of the main actors in the development of future fast microbiology technologies, as the method is already implemented in a majority of health care infrastructures for routine identification of microorganisms The aim of this mini-review is to show how matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) could be handful for a fast combined species and AMR identification in enteric pathogens, by detecting specific biomarkers within protein spectra generated by MALDI-TOF MS. The use of tandem mass spectrometry and bioinformatics as support tools for advanced identification of AMR will be discussed
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