MALDI-MS Proteotyping of Cutibacterium Acnes

Introduction

C.acnes is a major member of human skin commensal type of bacteria. The members of C. acnes are classified into three types, I, II, and III, based on traditional phenotypic characteristics such as serotypes, sugar content of the cell-wall, fatty acid profile, and morphology. Recently, these were assigned to novel subspecies as follows: type I that included C. acnes subsp. acnes, type II that included C. acnes subsp. defendens, and type III that included C. acnes subsp. elongatum. In addition, Type I is subdivided into subtypes IA1, IA2, IB, and IC by DNA-based approach, multilocus sequence typing (MLST). MALDI-MS fingerprinting technique, which uses unidentified two to five peaks has been applied to rapid identification of subtypes for C. acnes strains; however, IA1 and IA2 have not been differentiated yet. In addition, reported m/z values of the biomarker peaks are different among researchers. However, detected peaks of proteins can be assigned using theoretical masses calculated from amino-acid sequences translated from DNA sequences. Using the “MALDI-MS proteotyping” method, microorganisms are identified or classified based on identified biomarker peaks. In this application news, 24 strains of C. acnes are classified at the subtype level by MALDI-MS proteotyping using eMSTAT Solution™ and Strain Solution™.

October 22, 2020 GMT