Abstract
Historical microbial collections often contain samples that have been deposited over extended time periods, during which accepted taxonomic classification (and also available methods for taxonomic assignment) may have changed considerably. Deposited samples can, therefore, have historical taxonomic assignments (HTAs) that may now be in need of revision, and subdivisions of previously-accepted taxa may also be possible with the aid of current methodologies. One such methodology is matrix-assisted laser-desorption and ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Motivated by the high discriminating power of MALDI-TOF MS coupled with the speed and low cost of the method, we have investigated the use of MALDI-TOF MS for spectral grouping of past deposits made to the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) Genetic Resource Collection under the HTA Aspergillus versicolor, a common ascomycete fungus frequently associated with soil and plant material, food spoilage, and damp indoor environments. Despite their common HTA, the 40 deposits analyzed in this study fall into six clear spectral-linkage groups (containing nine, four, four, four, four, and two members, respectively), along with a group of ten spectrally-unique samples. This study demonstrates the clear resolving power of MALDI-TOF MS when applied to samples deposited in historical microbial collections.
Highlights
Historical microbial collections often contain samples that have been deposited over extended time periods, sometimes many decades
Given the high discriminating power of MALDI-TOF MS [12,13,14,15,16] coupled with the speed and low cost of the method [12], we have applied MALDI-TOF MS-based analysis to historical deposits made to the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) Genetic Resource Collection that all share the historical taxonomic assignments (HTAs) Aspergillus versicolor
As a rapid and inexpensive complement to methodologies based upon morphological analysis of growth in culture [29] and nucleic-acid analysis [27,29,30,31,32], in the current article, we have investigated the use of MALDI-TOF MS for spectral grouping of past deposits made to the CABI Genetic Resource Collection under the HTA A. versicolor
Summary
Historical microbial collections often contain samples that have been deposited over extended time periods, sometimes many decades. Whilst DNA-based methods have increased considerably in significance since, samples deposited earlier may have historical taxonomic assignments (HTAs) that may be in need of revision, and the subdivision of previously-accepted taxa may be possible with the aid of current methodologies. One such methodology is matrix-assisted laser-desorption and ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), which is rapid and relatively inexpensive, and has found widespread use in the characterization and identification of biological samples. This fraction of the proteome contains many ribosomal proteins
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