MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry in the accelerated identification of microorganisms of the Vibrio genus

The goal of this work was to develop methodological approaches for identification of representatives of the Vibrio genus using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Biosafety aspects of sample preparation for mass spectrometry were studied; reference spectra of six typical V. cholerae strains were obtained. The identification of 55 strains, representatives of the Vibrio genus, including 45 V. cholerae strains of different epidemic importance, was performed using a MALDI Biotyper 3.0 database comprising V. cholerae reference spectra. The possibility of reliable identification of the taxonomy (up to a species) of the strain tested was demonstrated, the results being in a complete agreement with the data of classical microbiological identification. The stability and reproducibility of the proposed research method was shown experimentally. The results obtained make it possible for the identification of representatives of the Vibrio genus with the use of mass spectrometry to be considered as an effective method to identify species belonging to main representatives of the Vibrio genus within the shortest period of time.