Comparison of Two Bacterial Characterization Techniques for the Genomic Analysis of River Microbiomes

This study compares the feasibility of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry with whole genome sequencing (WGS) for identifying bacteria in river surface water samples. We collected samples from four rivers in the Dominican Republic and used both techniques to characterize bacterial profiles. MALDI-TOF demonstrated high precision, with 86.2% similarity to WGS results, except for a few discordant cases due to database limitations. MALDI-TOF provided cost-effective and rapid identification, making it a promising alternative to WGS in resource-constrained regions. In particular, good effectiveness of MALDI-TOF in identifying bacteria with a high probability of being resistant to antibiotics was observed, which allows this technology to be used in the monitoring processes of this type of microorganism for their rapid, accurate, and low-cost identification. We found this technology to be advantageous for environmental bacterial profiling, with potential applications in understanding waterborne pathogenic bacteria. Our findings underline the relevance of MALDI-TOF in microbiology and its potential to expand its capabilities in bacterial identification and protein profiling.