bioaerosol mass spectrometry for rapid detection of individual.pdfVIP

APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, Oct. 2005, p. 6086–6095 Vol. 71, No. 10 0099-2240/05/$08.00 0 doi:10.1128/AEM.71.10.6086–6095.2005 Bioaerosol Mass Spectrometry for Rapid Detection of Individual Airborne Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra Particles Herbert J. Tobias,1 Millie P. Schafer,2 Maurice Pitesky,1 David P. Fergenson,1 Joanne Horn,1 1 1 Matthias Frank, and Eric E. Gard * Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, 1 and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio2 Received 2 March 2005/Accepted 22 April 2005 Single-particle laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, in the form of bioaerosol mass spectrometry (BAMS), was evaluated as a rapid detector for individual airborne, micron-sized, Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra particles, comprised of a single cell or a small number of clumped cells. The BAMS mass spectral signatures for aerosolized M. tuberculosis H37Ra particles were found to be distinct from M. smegmatis , Bacillus atrophaeus, and B. cereus particles, using a distinct biomarker. This is the first time a potentially unique biomarker was measured in M. tuberculosis H37Ra on a single-cell level. In addition, M. tuberculosis H37Ra and M. smegmatis were aerosolized into a bioaerosol chamber and were sampled and analyzed using BAMS, an aerodynamic particle sizer, a viable Anderson six-stage sampler, and filter cassette samplers that permitted direct counts of cells. In a bac