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AGING OF CRYPTOSPORIDIUM PARVUUM OOCYSTS STUDIED BY MALDI-TOF MS
Citation:
MAGNUSON, M. L. AND H. BRASS. AGING OF CRYPTOSPORIDIUM PARVUUM OOCYSTS STUDIED BY MALDI-TOF MS. Presented at 2004 NRMRL/WSWRD peer review, Cincinnati, OH, September 27 - 29, 2004.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public
Description:
Cryptosporidium parvum is a protozoan parasite, and it causes a potentially fatal gastrointestinal illness. This water borne pathogen has been the subject of several high profile disease outbreaks in the US and abroad. C. parvum presents challenges for both compliance monitoring and water treatment. One difficulty in performing treatment studies for C. parvum is variability between sources of oocysts. Recently, we demonstrated the use of MALDI-ToF-MS as a tool for assessing lot-to-lot variability for in-house C. parvum production (1). It is known that oocyst age affects treatment studies, particularly with regard to disinfectability. In the present study, the effect of aging of the oocysts upon the MALDI-ToF-MS fingerprint is studied.
The MALDI-ToF-MS analysis results in a mass spectral fingerprint of approximately 25 peaks with mass > 5000 m/z. These peaks were used to calculate a mass spectral fingerprint. Of the peaks comprising the fingerprint, 70% remained unchanged for up to 11 months. Some peaks in the fingerprint were not identified at 11 months, implicating them in viability issues.