Rapid MALDI-TOF-MS analysis in the study of interaction between whole bacterial cells and human target molecules: binding of Bifidobacterium to human plasminogen.

MALDI-TOF (Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight)-mass spectrometry has been applied, for the first time, in the investigation of whole Bifidobacterium cells-host target proteins interaction. In particular, by means of this technique, a dose dependent human plasminogen-binding activity has been shown for Bifidobacterium. The involvement of lysine binding sites on the bacterial cell surface has been proved. The obtained result was found to be consistent with that from well-established standard methodologies, thus the proposed MALDI-TOF approach has the potential to enter as a fast alternative method in the field of biorecognition studies involving in bacterial cells and proteins of human origin.