Custom MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometric Database for identification of environmental Burkholderia and related genera

Success of microbial natural products discovery programs is dependent on
quick and concise discrimination between isolates from diverse
environments. However, laboratory isolation and identification of priority
genera using current 16S rRNA PCR-based methods is both challenging and
time-consuming. In clinical settings, MALDI-TOF MS is used to rapidly
identify unknown bacterial pathogens, yet this has not been widely adapted
for isolation of environmental bacteria. To expedite isolation of
Gram-negative proteobacterial order Burkholderiales, we have created a
main spectral (MSP) library for the Bruker Biotyper MALDI mass
spectrometer that includes 95 entries of Burkholderia, Caballeronia,
Paraburkholderia, and other environmentally related genera. We tested the
effectiveness of the reference library by analyzing 49 unknown
environmental isolate strains before comparing to results of traditional
16S sequencing. The MALDI Biotyper correctly identified all strains to the
genus level when sufficient reference spectra were available. This dataset
is freely available to the scientific research community for use in
taxonomic assignments of environmentally-derived bacteria from the order
Burkholderiales.