Relatively few reports have investigated the determination and classification of pathogens such as the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Category A Bacillus anthracis spores and cells (BA), Yersinia species, Francisella tularensis (FT), and Category B Brucella species from FTIR spectra. We investigated the classification ability of the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of viable pathogenic and non-pathogenic NIAID Category A and B bacteria. The impact of different growth media, growth time and temperature, rolling circle filter of the data, and wavelength range were investigated for their microorganism differentiation. Various 2-D PC plots provided differential degrees of separation with respect to the four viable, bacterial genera including the BA sub-categories of pathogenic spores, vegetative cells, and nonpathogenic vegetative cells. FT spectra were separated from that of the three other genera. The BA pathogenic spore strains 1029, LA1, and Ames were clearly differentiated from the rest of the dataset. Yersinia species were distinctly separated from the remaining dataset and could also be classified by growth media. This work provided evidence that FTIR spectroscopy can separate the four major pathogenic bacterial genera of NIAID Category A and B biological threat agents.

Date Published: 17 April 2008
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 6954, Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) Sensing IX, 695413 (17 April 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.767292

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6954:
Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) Sensing IX
Augustus Way Fountain III; Patrick J. Gardner, Editor(s)