Peaks of Promise and Peril: Screening for Antibiotic Resistance by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization–Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry

摘要

An article in this issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology (J.-H. Youn, S. K. Drake, R. A. Weingarten, K. M. Frank, J. P. Dekker, and A. F. Lau, J Clin Microbiol 53:35–42, 2015, ) describes the use of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry for the detection of organisms carrying a blaKPC-containing plasmid. This powerful and promising application highlights the challenges of using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry for purposes other than organism identification.