Identification of European mosquito species by MALDI-TOF MS.
Amina Yssouf, Philippe Parola, Anders Lindström, Tobias Lilja, Grégorie L'Ambert, Ulf Bondesson, Jean-Michel Berenger, Didier Raoult, Lionel Almeras
Author Information
Amina Yssouf: Unité de Recherche en Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE), UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198 (Dakar, Sénégal), Inserm 1095, WHO Collaborative Center for Rickettsioses and Other Arthropod-Borne Bacterial Diseases, Faculté de Médecine, Aix Marseille Université, 27 bd Jean Moulin, 13385, Marseille CEDEX 5, France.
MALDI-TOF MS profiling has proved to be efficient for arthropod identification at the species level. However, prior to entomological monitoring, the reference spectra database should cover relevant species. Here, 74 specimens were field-collected from 11 mosquito species captured in two distinct European areas and used either to increment our database or for blind tests. Misidentification was not noted, underlining the power of this approach. Nevertheless, three out of the 26 specimens used for the blind test did not reach the significant identification threshold value set, attributed to lower spectral quality. In the future, the quality control spectra parameters need to be defined to avoid not achieving significant threshold identification.
