Abstract
Escherichia coli is an important pathogen of nosocomial infection in clinical research, Thus, exploring new methods for the rapid detection of this pathogen is urgent. We reported the early release of molecular volatile indole vapour of E. coli cultures and blood cultures analyzed by direct atmospheric corona discharge ionization mass spectrometry (CDI-MS). The concentration of indole in E. coli cultures remarkably increases during the early log and lag phases of bacterial growth, thereby enabling early detection. Technical replicates were cultivated for 3 days for reference diagnosis using current conventional bacteraemia detection. A reference MS screen of common microbes from other genera confirmed that the peaks at m/z 116 signal corresponded to indole were specifically present in E. coli. Our results indicated that volatile indole based on CDI-MS without the need for any sample pretreatment is highly suitable for the reliable and cost-efficient differentiation of E. coli, especially for bacteraemia in humans.
Highlights
Escherichia coli (E. coli) is an opportunistic pathogen that is frequently isolated from urinary tracts (46.4%), surgical burns and wounds (20.6%), blood stream (22.2%), other sterile body fluids (21.0%) and pulmonary tracts (5.0%), according to the 2017 CHINET monitoring network
Our studies strongly indicate the excellent potential of indole detection for the rapid recognition of E. coli compared with common clinical diagnostic routines (6–7 h vs. 2–3 days)
Our previous study has introduced almost all common clinical bacterial volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in vitro by ambient MS18, no conclusive structural attribute for m/z 116 was made in our preliminary work
Summary
Escherichia coli (E. coli) is an opportunistic pathogen that is frequently isolated from urinary tracts (46.4%), surgical burns and wounds (20.6%), blood stream (22.2%), other sterile body fluids (21.0%) and pulmonary tracts (5.0%), according to the 2017 CHINET monitoring network. Our studies strongly indicate the excellent potential of indole detection for the rapid recognition of E. coli compared with common clinical diagnostic routines (6–7 h vs 2–3 days). After subtracting corresponding signal of the blank background reference (pure centrifuge tube), the spectrum intensity at m/z 116.17 observed was greatly increased in the headspace of E. coli cultures due to the volatility of the ionized chemicals (10 cultures/11 blood cultures).
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