Rapid and cost-effective identification of Bartonella species using Mass Spectr

June 18, 2009

Rapid and cost-effective identification of Bartonella species using Mass

Spectrometry

Pierre Edouard Fournier, Carine Couderc, Sylvain Buffet, Christophe

Flaudrops and Didier Raoult

Journal of Medical Microbiology (2009),

Published online ahead of print on 15 June 2009.

Abstract

Bacteria of the genus Bartonella are emerging zoonotic bacteria recognized

in a variety of human diseases. Due to their poor chemical reactivity,

these fastidious bacteria are poorly characterized using routine phenotypic

laboratory tests. Identification is usually achieved

using molecular techniques that are time-consuming, expensive, and

technically demanding.

Recently, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass

spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has emerged as a new technique for bacterial

species identification. We evaluated the use of MALDI-TOF MS for rapid genus

and species identification of Bartonella species. Reference strains

representing 17 validated Bartonella species were studied. For each species, MS

spectra for four colonies were analyzed.

The consensus spectrum obtained for each species was unique among spectra

obtained for 2,843 bacteria within the Bruker database, including 109

alpha-proteobacteria. Thirty-nine additional blind-coded Bartonella strains

were correctly identified at the species level, including 36 with a

significant score.

Altogether, these data demonstrate that mass spectrometry is an accurate

and reproducible tool for rapid and inexpensive identification of Bartonella

species.

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