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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2008, p. 2179-2186, Vol. 74, No. 7
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02069-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

On-Line Monitoring of Microbial Volatile Metabolites by Proton Transfer Reaction-Mass Spectrometry{triangledown}

Michael Bunge,1,{dagger} Nooshin Araghipour,2,{dagger} Tomas Mikoviny,2 Jürgen Dunkl,2,3 Ralf Schnitzhofer,2 Armin Hansel,2,3 Franz Schinner,1 Armin Wisthaler,2 Rosa Margesin,1 and Tilmann D. Märk2*

Institute of Microbiology,1 Institute of Ion Physics and Applied Physics, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria,2 Ionimed Analytik GmbH, Innsbruck, Austria3

Received 11 September 2007/ Accepted 24 January 2008

A method for analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from microbial cultures was established using proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry (PTR-MS). A newly developed sampling system was coupled to a PTR-MS instrument to allow on-line monitoring of VOCs in the dynamic headspaces of microbial cultures. The novel PTR-MS method was evaluated for four reference organisms: Escherichia coli, Shigella flexneri, Salmonella enterica, and Candida tropicalis. Headspace VOCs in sampling bottles containing actively growing cultures and uninoculated culture medium controls were sequentially analyzed by PTR-MS. Characteristic marker ions were found for certain microbial cultures: C. tropicalis could be identified by several unique markers compared with the other three organisms, and E. coli and S. enterica were distinguishable from each other and from S. flexneri by specific marker ions, demonstrating the potential of this method to differentiate between even closely related microorganisms. Although the temporal profiles of some VOCs were similar to the growth dynamics of the microbial cultures, most VOCs showed a different temporal profile, characterized by constant or decreasing VOC levels or by single or multiple peaks over 24 h of incubation. These findings strongly indicate that the temporal evolution of VOC emissions during growth must be considered if characterization or differentiation based on microbial VOC emissions is attempted. Our study may help to establish the analysis of VOCs by on-line PTR-MS as a routine method in microbiology and as a tool for monitoring environmental and biotechnological processes.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Ion Physics and Applied Physics, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria. Phone: 43 512 507 6240. Fax: 43 512 507 2932. E-mail: tilmann.maerk{at}uibk.ac.at

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 1 February 2008.

{dagger} M.B. and N.A. contributed equally to this work.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2008, p. 2179-2186, Vol. 74, No. 7
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02069-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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