Identification of clinically relevant Corynebacterium spp., Arcanobacterium haemolyticum, and Rhodococcus equi by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry.

The identification of 83 Corynebacterium, 13 Arcanobacterium haemolyticum, and 10 Rhodococcus equi strains by conventional methods (API Coryne complemented with 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis) was compared with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry identification. The correlation between API and MALDI-TOF results was 89%. MALDI-TOF is a rapid and accurate system for identification of the above-mentioned microorganisms.