Then, in 2004, the first complete database for bacterial identification was reported. Furthermore, MALDI-TOF MS was used by the mid-1990s for the identification of bacteria in research settings but it took a long time for the introduction of this technology in routine microbiology. The first description of the use of MS technology for bacterial identification was in 1975.
The matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is an analytical method of microbial identification and characterization based on the fast and precise assessment of the mass of molecules in a variable range of 100 Da to 100 KDa.