The method is applied for the rapid grouping of bacterial and fungal isolates, i.e., dereplication, in large-scale screening campaigns of microorganisms isolated from plants grown under diverse environmental conditions, without loss of biodiversity. Isolates collected from rhizospheres and plants are tested in inoculation experiments for their potential use to sustainably increase crop production.
Mass spectrometry-based exploration of plant-associated microbial communities
- heute
Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) is a unique tool for fast and high resolving characterization and identification of cultivable microorganisms. In this MS-based biotyping technique, the molecular mass of most abundant proteins in a crude extract is measured and the spectra information is used as a fingerprint for a particular organism.