Molecular Identification of Staphylococcus spp and Detection of the mecA Gene

Abstract

MALDI-TOF Phenotypic identification of species of Staphylococcuscan be difficult The matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is a cost-effective and rapid method for microbial identification However different score cutoff values have been used for identification of staphylococci This study aimed toevaluate two score cutoffs (2 0 and 1 7) and replicate number onthe identification of staphylococci A collection of 440 clinical isolates (11 species) identified by 16S rRNA or gap or tuf gene sequencing was evaluated in duplicate At a cutoff of 1 7 the rates of species genus and unreliableidentifications were99 3% 0 2% and0 5% respectively while the respective values were 93 4% 5 7% and 0 9% when a cutoff of 2 0 was used Comparing the two cutoffs (1 7 vs 2 0) the species identification rate was significantly higher (99 3% vs 93 4% P

Date of Award	2016 Feb 18
Original language	English
Supervisor	Hsien-Chang Chang (Supervisor)