Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Rapid Identification of Gram Negative Bacteria from Blood Culture Broth Using MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry
Published on: May 28, 2014
Rapid identification of viridans streptococci by mass spectrometric discrimination
C Friedrichs1, A C Rodloff, G S Chhatwal
1Institute for Medical Microbiology and Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases, University of Leipzig, Liebigstr. 24, D-04105 Leipzig, Germany. claudia.friedrichs@medizin.uni-leipzig.de
Abstract:
Viridans streptococci (VS) are responsible for several systemic diseases, such as endocarditis, abscesses, and septicemia. Unfortunately, species identification by conventional methods seems to be more difficult than species identification of other groups of bacteria. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the use of cell matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) for the rapid identification of 10 different species of VS. A total of 99 VS clinical isolates, 10 reference strains, and 20 strains from our in-house culture collection were analyzed by MALDI-TOF-MS. To evaluate the mass-spectrometric discrimination results, all strains were identified in parallel by phenotypic and genotypic methods. MALDI-TOF-MS identified 71 isolates as the mitis group, 23 as the anginosus group, and 5 as Streptococcus salivarius. Comparison of the species identification results obtained by the MALDI-TOF-MS analyses and with the phenotypic/genotypic identification systems showed 100% consistency at the species level. Thus, MALDI-TOF-MS seems to be a rapid and reliable method for the identification of species of VS from clinical samples.
Related Concept Videos
Rapid Identification of Pathogens
MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry
Automated Microbial Diagnostics
Mass Spectrometry: Complex Analysis
GC–MS is a powerful hyphenated method commonly used in forensics and environmental...
Peptide Identification Using Tandem Mass Spectrometry
This technique helps gather information regarding the protein from which the peptide was obtained and to study the peptides’ amino acid sequence. Identifying peptides from a complex mixture is an important component of the growing field of...
High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS)

