Bacterial volatile discovery using solid phase microextraction and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography–time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Bacteria produce unique volatile mixtures that could be used to identify infectious agents to the species, and possibly the strain level. However, due to the immense variety of human pathogens, and the close relatedness of some of these bacteria, the robust identification of the bacterium based on its volatile metabolome is likely to require a large number of volatile compounds for each species. We applied comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography–time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC–TOFMS) to the identification of the headspace volatiles of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 grown for 24 h in lysogeny broth. This is the first reported use of GC × GC–TOFMS for the characterization of bacterial headspace volatiles. The analytical purity that is afforded by this chromatographic method facilitated the identification of 28 new P. aeruginosa-derived volatiles, nearly doubling the list of volatiles for this species.

► First application of SPME–GC × GC–TOFMS to the identification of bacterial headspace volatiles.
► Twenty-eight new Pseudomonas aeruginosa headspace volatiles.
► The list of P. aeruginosa headspace volatiles is nearly doubled.