Reagentless Detection and Classification of Individual Bioaerosol Particles in Seconds

Abstract

The rapid chemical analysis of individual cells is an analytical capability that will profoundly impact many fields including bioaerosol detection for biodefense and cellular diagnostics for clinical medicine. This article describes a mass spectrometry-based analytical technique for the real-time and reagentless characterization of individual airborne cells without sample preparation. We characterize the mass spectral signature of individual Bacillus spores and demonstrate the ability to distinguish two Bacillus spore species, B. thuringiensis and B.atrophaeus, from one another very accurately and from the other biological and nonbiological background materials tested with no false positives at a sensitivity of 92%. This example demonstrates that the chemical differences between these two Bacillus spore species are consistently and easily detected within single cells in seconds.

Toward understanding the ionization of biomarkers from micrometer particles by bio-aerosol mass spectrometry

“…The BAMS mass spectra of Bacillus spores contain primarily analytes from the spore's core including DPA, arginine and glutamic acid [10,12,13]. These conclusions were reached after growing the organism in 13 C and 15 N enriched media.…”

“…The current approach involves bio-aerosol mass spectrometry (BAMS), which is a method for real-time analysis of bio-aerosols [10]. Unlike traditional chemical and biochemical methods for bacteria identification, which have relatively long analysis times ranging from hours to days [11], bio-aerosol mass spectrometry requires only seconds [10,11].…”

“…Unlike traditional chemical and biochemical methods for bacteria identification, which have relatively long analysis times ranging from hours to days [11], bio-aerosol mass spectrometry requires only seconds [10,11]. Each particle is analyzed individually with no required sample preparation.…”

“…The instrument has previously been shown to identify Bacillus spores in real-time [10]. This ability is based on the use of identifying a representative fingerprint spectrum of the spore [10].…”

“…This ability is based on the use of identifying a representative fingerprint spectrum of the spore [10]. The fingerprint spectrum contains specific biomarker peaks for Bacillus spores.…”