Rapid and improved identification of drinking water bacteria using the Drinking Water Library, a dedicated MALDI-TOF MS database

According to the European Directives (UE) 2020/2184 and 2009/54/EC, which establishes sanitary criteria for water intended human consumption in Europe, suitable must be free of bacterial indicators Escherichia coli, Clostridium perfringens Enterococcus spp. Drinking is also monitored heterotrophic bacteria, are not a health risk, but can serve as an index bacteriological quality. Therefore, rapid, accurate, cost-effective method identification these colonies would improve our understanding culturable bacteria drinking facilitate task management by treatment facilities. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) potentially such method, although most currently available spectral libraries have been developed clinical setting limited environmental applicability. In this work, MALDI-TOF MS library (DWL) was defined targeting present consumption. This database, made up 319 different strains, contribute routine microbiological control either treated or mineral bottled carried out distribution operators, offering faster rate compared sample-based library. The DWL, 96 genera, 44 represented Bruker Daltonics (BDAL) found significantly water.