抄録
In recent years, the identification of microbial species by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has gathered attention because of its convenience, rapidness, and low operating cost. MALDI-TOF MS obtains spectrum data from ribosomal proteins with molecular weight ranging from m/z 2,000 to 20,000. There are two methods for analyzing the spectrum data and for identifying microbial species. One method analyzes genetic data, assigning the peaks to the several ribosomal proteins as biomarkers, and analyzes the patterns of the differences of molecular weight. This method is complex to perform and is thus unsuitable for the rapid identification of species. However, it does provide the possibility of achieving identification of strains at high resolution. The other method is a finger-printing method designed to analyze the main peaks of the spectrum data without identifying specific proteins. The finger-printing method is convenient and rapid and thus is frequently applied clinically. The finger-printing method is being introduced in the food industry; however, data on food-related bacteria are insufficient and sometimes do not completely identify microbial species. In order to adequately utilize the finger-printing method in the food industry, it is necessary to construct a comprehensive database system. We have established a consortium composed mainly of food companies and worked for expansion of a comprehensive database by sharing of food company in-house databases.
