HS-GC-IMS data of fermentations of different organisms

This dataset contains raw headspace GC-IMS data in the .mea file format (Gesellschaft für analytische Sensorsysteme mbH, Dortmund, Germany) of shake flask fermentations of different pure and mixed cultures. The aim was to differentiate the microorganisms and detect mixed cultures compared to pure cultures by non-target profiling of volatile metabolites (mVOC) as a first step towards a new analytical method for early contamination detection.
Microorganisms were obtained from the German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH (DSMZ, Braunschweig, Germany, https://www.dsmz.de). Levilactobacillus brevis (DSM 2647), Escherichia coli (DSM 498), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (DSM 70449) and Pseudomonas fluorescens (DSM 6147) were used. The culture media was a modified De Man, Rogosa, and Sharpe (MRS) medium, adapted from https://www.dsmz.de/microorganisms/medium/pdf/DSMZ_Medium11.pdf. The inhibiting compounds ammonium citrate and sodium acetate were omitted.
Fermentations were carried out in 300 mL shake flasks at 30°C and 180 rpm on a shaking incubator for 6 hours. The dataset contains four batches of each organism (GCIMS_pure_cultures folder) and two - four batches of each combination of two organisms (GCIMS_mixed_cultures folder).
2 mL of fermentation broth were sampled every hour for headspace GC-IMS analysis. Measurements were performed using an Agilent 6890 GC (Agilent Technologies Deutschland GmbH, Waldbronn, Germany) equipped with an OEM IMS detector (Gesellschaft für analytische Sensorsysteme mbH, Dortmund, Germany). A non-polar ZB-5 GC column (Phenomenex Inc., Torrance, USA) was used.