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Updated: Mar 29, 2026

Identification of Rare Bacterial Pathogens by 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing and MALDI-TOF MS
Published on: July 11, 2016
Rapid identification of clinical members of Fusarium fujikuroi complex using MALDI-TOF MS
Abdullah M S Al-Hatmi1,2,3, Anne-Cécile Normand4, Anne D van Diepeningen1
1CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Aim:
To develop the matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) method for identification of Fusarium species within Fusarium fujikuroi complex for use in clinical microbiology laboratories.
Materials & Methods:
A total of 24 reference and 60 clinical and environmental isolates belonging to the F. fujikuroi complex were subjected to MALDI-TOF MS identification. Protein extracts of Fusarium isolates were obtained using formic acid extraction. Multilocus sequence analysis was used as a gold standard.
Results:
The MALDI-TOF MS Biotyper correctly identified 93.6% of the strains down to the species level, while the remaining isolates (6.4%) were identified at the genus level when using scores of ≥ 2.0 as cut-off values. Correct identification was obtained despite large intraspecific heterogeneities in MALDI-TOF spectra.
Conclusion:
MALDI-TOF MS is a rapid identification tool for the recognition of species within F. fujikuroi complex, provided a database is available.

