Expanding Molecular Coverage in Mass Spectrometry Imaging of Microbial Systems Using Metal-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization.

ABSTRACT: Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is becoming an increasingly popular analytical technique to investigate microbial systems. However, differences in the ionization efficiencies of distinct MSI methods lead to biases in terms of what types and classes of molecules can be detected. Here, we sought to increase the molecular coverage of microbial colonies by employing metal-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MetA-LDI) MSI, and we compared our results to more commonly utilized matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization MALDI MSI. We found substantial (∼67%) overlap in the molecules detected in our analysis of Bacillus subtilis colony biofilms using both methods, but each ionization technique did lead to the identification of a unique subset of molecular species. MetA-LDI MSI tended to identif

SUBMITTER: Lukowski JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8552643 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature