Table 1.
Tick species selected for blind tests against the arthropod MALDI-TOF MS reference databases.
Fig 1.
Comparison of MALDI-TOF MS profiles of Ticks infected or not by Rickettsia spp.
Representative spectra from biological replicates of Rh. sanguineus (A, B), Rh. sanguineus infected by R. conorii conorii (C, D), D. marginatus (E, F) and D. marginatus infected by R. slovaca (G, H) were aligned using Flex analysis 3.3 software. a.u., arbitrary units; m/z, mass-to-charge ratio.
Fig 2.
Alignment of MALDI-TOF MS profiles of Rickettsia strains and tick species infected or not by Rickettsia using Flex analysis 3.3 software.
Representative spectra of a purified R. conorii conorii strain (A), Rh. sanguineus (B), Rh. sanguineus infected by R. conorii conorii (C), a purified R. slovaca strain (D), D. marginatus (E) and D. marginatus infected by R. slovaca (F) are presented. a.u., arbitrary units; m/z, mass-to-charge ratio.
Table 2.
Peak masses distinguishing uninfected and R. c conorii-infected Rh. sanguineus Ticks and the determination of the peak masses shared with a purified R. c. conorii strain based on statistical analysis with ClinProTools.
Fig 3.
Location of discriminating peak masses shared between the spectra acquired from Rickettsia-infected specimens and the corresponding Rickettsia strain using Flex analysis software 3.3.
The alignment spectra comparing the infected specimen and the corresponding strain spectra are shown in detail. (A) R. conorii conorii shared discriminating peak masses located on the MS profile of Rh. sanguineus infected by R. conorii conorii. (B) R. slovaca shared discriminating peak masses located on the MS profile of D. marginatus infected by R. slovaca.
Table 3.
Peak masses distinguishing uninfected and R.slovaca-infected D. marginatus Ticks and the determination of the peak masses shared with a purified R. slovaca strain based on statistical analysis with ClinProTools.