Figure 2.

MALDI-TOF MS: the main approaches used for the applications in clinical microbiology. The approaches used for the application of MALDI-TOF MS in clinical microbiology include the comparison of the protein spectra of the sample with a database/reference library and/or the identification of specific biomarkers in the sample. Both approaches, also in combination, allow the identification of microbial proteins by peptide mass fingerprinting and the analysis of nucleic acid sequences and amplification products. The resulting applications in clinical microbiology include microbial identification, taxonomy, antimicrobial resistance detection, and microbial serotyping. Both approaches were also described for the identification of parasites.