Summary of the identification scores produced by the pattern-matching algorithm.

We could identify a number of bacteria from different locations and deriving from different biological samples: bacteria directly taken from infected pears, isolated bacteria grown on agar, or bacteria additionally grown in liquid medium (LB-glucose). Log scores over 2 were considered reliable for type strain identification using the pattern-matching approach. These identification scores could be easily replicated with the same strains analyzed several times. Specific mass signals were used to accurately identify sub-species by visual inspection of mass spectra or by software-supported weighted pattern matching as demonstrated in Figure 5 and in Tables 2 and 3.