Assessment of Reproducibility of Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry for Bacterial and Yeast Identification

Lars F Westblade; Omai B Garner; Karen MacDonald; Constance Bradford; David H Pincus; A Brian Mochon; Rebecca Jennemann; Ryhana Manji; Maureen Bythrow; Michael A Lewinski; Carey-Ann D Burnham; Christine C Ginocchio

doi:10.1128/JCM.00187-15

Assessment of Reproducibility of Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry for Bacterial and Yeast Identification

J Clin Microbiol. 2015 Jul;53(7):2349-52. doi: 10.1128/JCM.00187-15. Epub 2015 Apr 29.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
² Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA.
³ bioMérieux, Inc., Durham, North Carolina, USA.
⁴ bioMérieux, Inc., Hazelwood, Missouri, USA.
⁵ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA Division of Infectious Diseases, Laboratory Sciences of Arizona/Sonora Quest Laboratories, Phoenix, Arizona, USA Department of Pathology, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
⁶ Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
⁷ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, North Shore-LIJ Laboratories, Lake Success, New York, USA.
⁸ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA Roche Molecular Systems, Inc., Pleasanton, California, USA.
⁹ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
¹⁰ bioMérieux, Inc., Durham, North Carolina, USA Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, Hempstead, NY, USA christine.ginocchio@biomerieux.com.

Abstract

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) has revolutionized the identification of clinical bacterial and yeast isolates. However, data describing the reproducibility of MALDI-TOF MS for microbial identification are scarce. In this study, we show that MALDI-TOF MS-based microbial identification is highly reproducible and can tolerate numerous variables, including differences in testing environments, instruments, operators, reagent lots, and sample positioning patterns. Finally, we reveal that samples of bacterial and yeast isolates prepared for MALDI-TOF MS identification can be repeatedly analyzed without compromising organism identification.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bacteria / chemistry*
Bacteria / classification*
Humans
Microbiological Techniques / methods*
Reproducibility of Results
Specimen Handling / methods
Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / methods*
Yeasts / chemistry*
Yeasts / classification*