Nottingham Trent University
Proteomics as a tool for the characterisation of nosocomial pathogens
Abstract
dc:description.abstractThe aim of the present investigation was to develop and assess the potential of various proteomic approaches for the characterisation of two major nosocomial pathogens, S. aureus and C. difficile and to further investigate the intraspecies diversity of C. difficile using a genotypic approach. The surface-associated proteins of S. aureus and intracellular stable ribosomal proteins of C. difficile were analysed by MALDI-TOF-MS and the resulting spectra interrogated using two databases viz. MMU (Waters®) and SARAMIS™ (AnagnosTec) respectively. A total of 134 clinical S. aureus isolates were tested using the MMU database and the MicrobeLynx™ software. All were successfully identified with minor contamination errors that corroborated with 16S rRNA sequencing. By contrast, C. difficile isolates were only partially identified (to the genus level) using the MMU database and protocol. Changes in the matrix solution and use of the new database (SARAMIS™) resulted in the correct identification of all C. difficile isolates and, detailed ultra-structural studies indicated that intracellular proteins were the new diagnostic biomarkers.
Degree
thesis:*- Name dc:type.qualificationname
- phd
- Level dc:type.qualificationlevel
- doctoral
- Grantor dc:publisher.institution
- Nottingham Trent University
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2010
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Rajakaruna, LK
Rights
- Language dc:language
- en