Species differentiation of insects and other multicellular organisms using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry protein profiling

Abstract. Protein profiling by ‘whole cell MALDI’ is a well developed tool for species identification in bacteria but this is the first report that this inexpensive and simple technique can also be used for the identification of small multicellular organisms such as insects. A proof-of-concept experiment demonstrates that the method can distinguish between sibling species from the Drosophila melanogaster subgroup. This suggests that the technique may be used as a rapid screen for cryptic species and to identify known species.