| Affiliation: | 1. Enteric Diseases Program, Bacteriology and Enteric Diseases Program, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, 1015 Arlington Street, Winnipeg, MB R3E 3R2 Canada;2. Mass Spectrometry & Proteomics Core Facility, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, 1015 Arlington Street, Winnipeg, MB R3E 3R2, Canada;3. Laboratory for Foodborne Zoonoses, Lethbridge Unit, Public Health Agency of Canada, c/o Animal Diseases Research Institute, 225089 Township Road 9-1, PO Box 640, Lethbridge, AB T1J 3Z4, Canada;4. Cadham Provincial Laboratory, 750 William Ave., Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 3Y1, Canada |
| Abstract: | It is rapidly becoming apparent that many E. coli pathotypes cause a considerable burden of human disease. Surveillance of these organisms is difficult because there are few or no simple, rapid methods for detecting and differentiating the different pathotypes. MALDI-TOF mass spectroscopy has recently been rapidly and enthusiastically adopted by many clinical laboratories as a diagnostic method because of its high throughput, relatively low cost, and adaptability to the laboratory workflow. To determine whether the method could be adapted for E. coli pathotype differentiation the Bruker Biotyper methodology and a second methodology adapted from the scientific literature were tested on isolates representing eight distinct pathotypes and two other groups of E. coli. A total of 136 isolates was used for this study. Results confirmed that the Bruker Biotyper methodology that included extraction of proteins from bacterial cells was capable of identifying E. coli isolates from all pathotypes to the species level and, furthermore, that the Bruker extraction and MALDI-TOF MS with the evaluation criteria developed in this work was effective for differentiating most pathotypes. |
