MIMS as a Low-Impact Tool to Identify Pathogens in Water

Bacteria produce many kinds of volatile compounds throughout their lifecycle. Identifying these volatile compounds can help to understand bacterial interactions with the host and/or other surrounding pathogens of the same or different species. Some commonly used techniques to detect these volatile compounds are GC and/or LC coupled to mass spectrometric techniques. However, these methods can sometimes become challenging owing to tedious sample preparation steps. Thus, identifying an easier method to detect these volatile compounds was investigated in the present study. Here, Membrane-inlet mass spectrometry (MIMS) provided a facile low-impact alternative to the existing strategies. MIMS was able to differentiate between the pathogenic and nonpathogenic bacterial strains, implying that it can be used as a bioprocess monitoring tool to analyze water samples from either water treatment plants or biotechnological industries.

Automated summary

Bacteria produce various volatile compounds throughout their lifecycle, and identifying these compounds is important for studying bacterial interactions. Common techniques such as GC and LC coupled to mass spectrometry can be challenging due to sample preparation. In this study, Membrane-inlet mass spectrometry (MIMS) was found to be a simple and effective method for detecting volatile compounds and differentiating between pathogenic and nonpathogenic bacterial strains.