Characterization of polysaccharides using mass spectrometry for bacterial serotyping

Mass spectrometry provides a rapid and reliable method for characterization of bacterial polysaccharides. Application of the in-source fragmentation technique to promote the formation of structurally relevant repeating units of heterogeneous capsular polysaccharides and O-chain polysaccharides has proven to be particularly useful for detection of non-carbohydrate functionalities and subtle differences arising across bacterial serotypes. Here we discuss application of these methods to the direct analysis of bacterial cells allowing for rapid analysis of cell surface polysaccharide antigens and providing a basis for serological typing and epidemiological surveillance studies of human and animal pathogens.