Applications of MS-MALDI–TOF for quick identification of microorganisms

From the beginning of microbiology scientists have discussed the issue of how to easily, quickly but also accurately identify unknown microorganisms. Today there is a number of precise but time– consuming and costly molecular techniques available. The MS MALDI–TOF–based method offers a suitable alternative for currently used methods. This method allows comparing different isolates according to the characteristic profile of ribosomal proteins and selecting those which are identical, or it enables accurate direct identification of the samples using a commercial database. Measurements that we did showed that the identification accuracy by MALDI–TOF mass spectrometry is comparable to the methods of 16S rRNA gene analysis, which is used as a standard method for identification of microorganisms. The disadvantage of using commercial databases for identification is a small scale of suchdatabase. It is possible to say that method of MALDI–TOF mass spectrometry offers a fast and suitable alternative for theidentification of microorganisms.