Open AccessAccurate Identification of Common Pathogenic Nocardia Species: Evaluation of a Multilocus Sequence Analysis Platform and Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry
Author(s) -
Meng Xiao,
Liwei Pang,
Wen Chen,
Xin Fan,
Li Zhang,
Haixia Li,
Xin Hou,
Jingwei Cheng,
Fanrong Kong,
Yuanhui Zhao,
Yingchun Xu
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0147487
Subject(s) - rpob , biology , multilocus sequence typing , 16s ribosomal rna , sequence analysis , genetics , nocardia , locus (genetics) , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , genotype , bacteria
Species identification of Nocardia is not straightforward due to rapidly evolving taxonomy, insufficient discriminatory power of conventional phenotypic methods and also of single gene locus analysis including 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Here we evaluated the ability of a 5-locus (16S rRNA, gyrB , secA1 , hsp65 and rpoB ) multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) approach as well as that of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) in comparison with sequencing of the 5’-end 606 bp partial 16S rRNA gene to provide identification of 25 clinical isolates of Nocardia . The 5’-end 606 bp 16S rRNA gene sequencing successfully assigned 24 of 25 (96%) clinical isolates to species level, namely Nocardia cyriacigeorgica (n = 12, 48%), N . farcinica (n = 9, 36%), N . abscessus (n = 2, 8%) and N . otitidiscaviarum (n = 1, 4%). MLSA showed concordance with 16S rRNA gene sequencing results for the same 24 isolates. However, MLSA was able to identify the remaining isolate as N . wallacei , and clustered N . cyriacigeorgica into three subgroups. None of the clinical isolates were correctly identified to the species level by MALDI-TOF MS analysis using the manufacturer-provided database. A small “in-house” spectral database was established incorporating spectra of five clinical isolates representing the five species identified in this study. After complementation with the “in-house” database, of the remaining 20 isolates, 19 (95%) were correctly identified to species level (score ≥ 2.00) and one (an N . abscessus strain) to genus level (score ≥ 1.70 and < 2.00). In summary, MLSA showed superior discriminatory power compared with the 5’-end 606 bp partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing for species identification of Nocardia . MALDI-TOF MS can provide rapid and accurate identification but is reliant on a robust mass spectra database.