Evaluation of the Limit of Detection of Bacteria by Tandem Mass Spectrometry Proteotyping and Phylopeptidomics

Shotgun proteomics has proven to be an attractive alternative for identifying a pathogen and characterizing the antimicrobial resistance genes it produces. Because of its performance, proteotyping of microorganisms by tandem mass spectrometry is expected to become an essential tool in modern healthcare. Proteotyping microorganisms that have been isolated from the environment by culturomics is also a cornerstone for the development of new biotechnological applications. Phylopeptidomics is a new strategy that estimates the phylogenetic distances between the organisms present in the sample and calculates the ratio of their shared peptides, thus improving the quantification of their contributions to the biomass. Here, we established the limit of detection of tandem mass spectrometry proteotyping based on MS/MS data recorded for several bacteria. The limit of detection for Salmonella bongori with our experimental set-up is 4 × 104 colony-forming units from a sample volume of 1 mL. This limit of detection is directly related to the amount of protein per cell and therefore depends on the shape and size of the microorganism. We have demonstrated that identification of bacteria by phylopeptidomics is independent of their growth stage and that the limit of detection of the method is not degraded in presence of additional bacteria in the same proportion.