A new approach to bacterial colony morphotyping by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight-based mass spectrometry.

Matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry has been explored as a tool to bacterial colony morphotyping. To this end, four colony morphotypes of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and four of Staphylococcus aureus were analysed using intact bacteria. Results suggest that mass spectrometry of intact bacteria could, in some extent, be used to complement the classical morphological classification of bacteria.