Assessing the ratio of Bacillus spores and vegetative cells by shotgun proteomics

Mass spectrometry for rapid identification of microorganisms is expanding over the last years because this approach is quick. This methodology provides a decisive interest to fight against bioterrorism as it is applicable whatever the pathogen to be considered and often allows subtyping which may be crucial for confirming a massive and widespread attack with biological agents. Here, we present a methodology based on next-generation proteomics and tandem mass spectrometry for discovering numerous protein biomarkers allowing the discrimination of spores and vegetative cells of Bacillus atrophaeus, a biowarfare simulant. We propose a global quantitative evaluation of the two groups of discriminant biomarkers based on their aggregated normalized spectral abundance factors.