Characterization of intact microorganisms by MALDI mass spectrometry

I. Introduction 157 II. MALDI‐TOF Spectra of Biomarkers 158 III. Instrumentation 158 IV. Sample Introduction 160 V. Preparation of Microorganism Samples for MALDI Analysis 161 VI. Characterization of MALDI Biomarkers 162 VII. Data Analysis: Fingerprint Libraries, Statistical Methods, Bioinformatics 163 VIII. Applications 165 IX. Summary and Envoi 166 Acknowledgments 166 References 166 The application of MALDI mass spectrometry to desorb protein biomarkers from intact viruses, bacteria, fungus, and spores is the focus of this review. Instrumentation, sample collection, sample preparation, and algorithms for data analysis are summarized. Optimally these analyses should be carried out in less than five minutes. Successful applications are discussed from biotechnology, cell biology, and the pharmaceutical industry.