As the lipidomics field continues to advance, self-evaluation within the community is critical. Here, we performed an interlaboratory comparison exercise for lipidomics using Standard Reference Material (SRM) 1950-Metabolites in Frozen Human Plasma, a commercially available reference material. The interlaboratory study comprised 31 diverse laboratories, with each laboratory using a different lipidomics workflow. A total of 1,527 unique lipids were measured across all laboratories and consensus location estimates and associated uncertainties were determined for 339 of these lipids measured at the sum composition level by five or more participating laboratories. These evaluated lipids detected in SRM 1950 serve as community-wide benchmarks for intra- and interlaboratory quality control and method validation. These analyses were performed using nonstandardized laboratory-independent workflows. The consensus locations were also compared with a previous examination of SRM 1950 by the LIPID MAPS consortium. While the central theme of the interlaboratory study was to provide values to help harmonize lipids, lipid mediators, and precursor measurements across the community, it was also initiated to stimulate a discussion regarding areas in need of improvement.

A rapid methodology is described for the enhancement of the signal‐to‐base‐line (S/B) ratio of high molecular weight protein signals from whole cell bacteria analyzed by matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (MALDI‐TOFMS). The procedure involves depositing growing bacteria colonies from culture dishes directly onto the MALDI probe followed by treatment of the sample spot with a 2 µL aliquot of 40% ethanol prior to the addition of a ferulic acid matrix solution (12.5 mg dissolved in 17% formic acid/33% acetonitrile/50% H2O). Protein signals of more than 20 kDa were routinely produced from both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria prepared in this manner. Moreover, a substantial number of intense protein signals were also produced in the more ‘conventional’ fingerprint region extending from 4 to 20 kDa. This approach is rapid, easy to implement into existing methodologies, and does not require any special hardware. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS), utilizing an on-probe sample pretreatment, was applied to the rapid and direct detection of intact phospholipids from whole bacterial cells. The sample preparation procedure involved depositing growing bacterial colonies from culture dishes directly onto the MALDI probe followed by treatment of the sample spot with a 3 micro L aliquot of an aqueous 0.05 M solution of sodium iodide prior to the addition of a 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB) matrix solution (ca. 8 mg dissolved in 70% acetonitrile/30% H(2)O containing 0.1% of trifluoroacetic acid). The MALDI spectra obtained from whole bacteria cells showed a series of ions generated from bacterial phospholipids, such as phosphatidylethanol-amines (PEs) and phosphatidylglycerols (PGs), which were clearly observed as well-resolved peaks. The ranges of the observed total carbon numbers in two acyl groups for PEs and PGs (30-36 and 33-36, respectively) were in good agreement with those reported previously. Furthermore, the distinct discrimination of four species of the Enterobacteriaceae family cultured identically was achieved by using principal components analysis (PCA) conducted on the relative peak intensities of phospholipids observed from the MALDI spectra.

Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) cause the disease botulism, which can be lethal if untreated. There are seven known serotypes of BoNT, A–G, defined by their response to antisera. Many serotypes are distinguished into differing subtypes based on amino acid sequence, and many subtypes are further differentiated into toxin variants. Previous work in our laboratory described the use of a proteomics approach to distinguish subtype BoNT/A1 from BoNT/A2 where BoNT identities were confirmed after searching data against a database containing protein sequences of all known BoNT/A subtypes. We now describe here a similar approach to differentiate subtypes BoNT/B1, /B2, /B3, /B4, and /B5. Additionally, to identify new subtypes or hitherto unpublished amino acid substitutions, we created an amino acid substitution database covering every possible amino acid change. We used this database to differentiate multiple toxin variants within subtypes of BoNT/B1 and B2. More importantly, with our amino acid substitution database, we were able to identify a novel BoNT/B subtype, designated here as BoNT/B7. These techniques allow for subtype and strain level identification of both known and unknown BoNT/B rapidly with no DNA required.FigureIdentification of an existing or new BoNT/B can be accomplished through MS/MS analysis of digestion fragments of the protein.