BelSU Scientists Contribute to Development of Rapid Bacterial Analysis Technology

The technique, known as DirectMS1, was developed through collaboration between researchers at the Nikolai Semenov Federal Research Centre for Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, along with experts from Belgorod State University, Skoltech, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics at the Russian Academy of Sciences. This method facilitates a swift evaluation of both the species composition and functional activity of microorganisms and their communities. Previously, gathering experimental data was time-consuming and complex; however, by eliminating the need for protein fragmentation, scientists have significantly reduced the analysis time from an hour to mere minutes.

‘Given the diversity of microbial metabolism, our team undertook extensive work that serves as a foundation for future research in this field. The theoretical and practical significance of our findings motivates us to continue our investigations, and we are optimistic about the potential applications of this method for monitoring microbial behavior in various environments.’ commented on the achievement Professor Inna Solyanikova, Director of BelSU’s Regional Microbiological Centre and Doctor of Biological Sciences.

The researchers tested DirectMS1 on distinct populations of microorganisms, model microbial communities with known compositions, and experimental data from human intestinal microbiota. To expedite the analysis process, they divided the identification of bacterial species into two stages: first, conducting a preliminary search to narrow down the database to the most likely candidates, followed by an accurate determination of the species. To evaluate the method’s effectiveness, the team employed this two-stage approach to analyse proteins from 19 previously identified bacterial strains. The results indicated that the proposed algorithm accurately identifies microorganism types with a remarkable 95% precision.

Additionally, this approach allows scientists to observe changes in bacterial metabolism influenced by environmental factors. For instance, researchers investigated how the biochemical activity of two species of actinobacteria from the genus Rhodococcus is altered when breaking down aromatic hydrocarbons – an important process for disposing of toxic waste from the oil refining industry. When exposed to harmful substances, these bacteria actively synthesized a range of protein enzymes involved in their degradation. The quantity of these compounds can serve as a rapid indicator of the effectiveness and viability of the studied bacteria.

‘I am thrilled that our collaborative research has yielded promising initial results in rapid microorganism screening. Our approach was driven by the understanding that environmental clean-up efforts using biopreparations necessitate monitoring the behaviour of introduced strains within ecosystems. Researchers require fast and precise analysis methods for accurate identification of closely related strains,’ said Professor Solyanikova.

She added that this meticulous work was grounded in bioinformatics analysis and experimental data regarding the biochemical characteristics of individual microbial strains under specific conditions. The scientists aimed to identify proteins and protein fragments that would enable them to distinguish and isolate closely related strains from mixed samples.

The findings of this study, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSCF), have been published in the “Microchemical Journal”.