Mass spectrometry analysis of microorganisms in samples

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9620344-B2
Application number	US-201414900827-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 21, 2014
Priority date	Jun 25, 2013
Publication date	Apr 11, 2017
Grant date	Apr 11, 2017

Abstract

The invention generally relates to systems and methods for mass spectrometry analysis of microorganisms in samples.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A microorganism identification system, the system comprising:
a capture module configured to capture an unknown microorganism from a sample and generate ions of the unknown microorganism, wherein the capture module comprises a porous substrate;
a mass analyzer operably coupled to the capture module to receive the generated ions of the unknown microorganism; and
a central processing unit (CPU) and storage coupled to the CPU for storing instructions that when executed by the CPU cause the CPU to:
accept as input from the mass analyzer, at least one mass spectrum of the unknown microorganism;
annotate the at least one mass spectrum of the unknown microorganism to generate one or more annotated mass spectra;
compare the one or more annotated mass spectra to a database comprising annotated mass spectra of known organisms; and
output an identification of the unknown organism based on results of the comparison.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the sample is a liquid sample.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the sample is a gas sample.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the sample is a solid sample.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the porous substrate is discrete from a flow of solvent.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the porous substrate tapers to at least one distal tip.

7. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a solvent applied to the porous substrate.

8. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the solvent comprises an internal standard.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the microorganism is a non-natural microorganism.

10. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the mass analyzer is for a mass spectrometer or a handheld mass spectrometer.

11. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the mass analyzer is selected from the group consisting of: a quadrupole ion trap, a rectilinear ion trap, a cylindrical ion trap, a ion cyclotron resonance trap, an orbitrap, a time of flight, a Fourier Transform ion cyclotron resonance, and sectors.

12. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the database comprises a similarity cluster.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the database comprises a mass spectrum from at least one member of a clade of organisms.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the database comprises a mass spectrum from at least one subspecies of organisms.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the database comprises a mass spectrum from a genus, a species, a strain, a sub-strain, or an isolate of organisms.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the database comprises a mass spectrum comprising motifs common to a genus, a species, a strain, a sub-strain, or an isolate of organisms.

17. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the mass spectra in the database are annotated to show if they were acquired in positive or negative mode.

18. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the microorganism is a bacterium.

19. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the microorganism is a virus.

20. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the microorganism is a fungus.

Assignees

• Purdue Research Foundation

Inventors

• Cooks Robert Graham
• Hamid Ahmed Mohamed
• Jarmusch Alan Keith
• Ouyang Zheng

Classifications

• C12Q1/04

  Determining presence or kind of microorganism; Use of selective media for testing antibiotics or bacteriocides; Compositions containing a chemical indicator therefor {(C12Q1/6897 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• G01N2560/00

  Chemical aspects of mass spectrometric analysis of biological material · CPC title

• H01J49/16

  using surface ionisation, e.g. field-, thermionic- or photo-emission · CPC title

• C12N13/00 Primary

  Treatment of microorganisms or enzymes with electrical or wave energy, e.g. magnetism, sonic waves · CPC title

• H01J49/0445 Primary

  with means for introducing as a spray, a jet or an aerosol (electrospray ion sources H01J49/165) · CPC title