Detection and identification of bacteria using direct injection inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy

In this study, an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) was used for the inorganic chemical characterization of biological materials by direct injection. ICP-MS has the advantage of sub-nanogram/gram detection limits for most elements making it a sensitive tool for the detection and characterization of aerosolized biological material. Suspended, microgram-sized samples of Bacillus subtilis spores (BG), Bacillus subtilis vegetative cells (Bg), and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) were analyzed via direct injection and they exhibit unique chemical signatures reflecting the processing history of each organism.