Veterinary Microbiology

With MALDI Biotyper® a broad range of veterinary microorganisms can be identified quickly, reliably, and cost effectively

Among the current critical challenges facing veterinary microbiology is the need to obtain secure species identification of rare and challenging organisms in a timely manner. In particular, zoonosis by pathogens transmitted between animals and humans is a very serious threat in the daily veterinary routine.

The MALDI Biotyper is a fast method for microorganism identification based on proteomic fingerprints. Its workflow has been designed to be as robust and easy to perform as possible. Only a few simple steps are required to generate a high-quality, reliable microorganism identification within minutes.

One interesting area in which the technology has found utility is that of bovine mastitis, where the MALDI Biotyper increases both speed and accuracy of mastitis diagnosis. It is, for example, possible to significantly improve and facilitate the identification and differentiation of mastitis associated Streptococcus ssp. and related species. The ability of the system to study subspecies and strains could provide a useful tool for studying potential outbreaks and transmission pathways and could have a significant impact on the disease and treatment.

The MBT Compass reference library currently contains 7,311 reference spectra of 2,509 species from 433 bacteria and fungi genera, including veterinary organisms such as Enterococci as well as less common species such as Brachyspira, Prototheca and Mycoplasma. The library is continuously maintained and updated according to strict quality controlled procedures.

There are millions of microorganisms and even the best reference library can cover only a certain portion of these. Laboratories needing to create their own library entries can make use of the optional MBT Compass Explorer Software module to compile customized libraries. Sophisticated bioinformatics for spectra comparison and statistical data interpretation enables users to optimize the microorganism classification process by creating, modifying, and organizing reference spectrum data.

A recent example for the potential in veterinary sciences is the identification of Streptococcus suis isolates. By adding three new reference spectra of different serotypes to the ten existing spectra of the reference library, the already high identification rate of S. suis rises from 85.3 % to an excellent 96.7 % (Perez-Sancho M. et al. Front Public Health 2015 3:202).