Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has recently emerged as an alternative to morphological and molecular tools to identify tick species. In this study, we set out to evaluate and confirm the ability of MALDI-TOF MS to identify different species of ticks collected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and preserved in 70% ethanol. A total of 575 ticks, of which 530 were collected from domestic pigs and 45 from wild animals, were subjected to MALDI-TOF MS analysis to evaluate the intraspecies reproducibility and interspecies specificity of MS profiles obtained from the different species. Morphologically, the ticks belonged to seven different species, namely Rhipicephalus complanatus, Rhipicephalus congolensis, Haemaphysalis muhsamae, Ixodes cumulatimpunctatus, Amblyomma exornatum, Amblyomma compressum and an unidentified Rhipicephalus sp. A total of 535/575 (93%) of the spectra obtained were of good enough quality to be used for our analyses. Our home-made MALDI-TOF MS arthropod database was upgraded with spectra obtained from between one and five randomly selected specimens per species. For these reference specimens, molecular identification of the ticks was also made using 16S, 12S rDNA genes and the Cox1 mtDNA gene sequencing. The remaining good quality spectra were then queried against the upgraded MALDI-TOF MS database, showing that 100% were in agreement with the morphological identification, with logarithmic score values (LSVs) between 1.813 and 2.51. The consistency between our morphological, molecular and MALDI-TOF MS identification confirms the capability and precision of MALDI-TOF MS for tick identification.

基质辅助激光解吸/电离质谱 (MALDI-TOF MS) 最近已成为识别蜱物种的形态学和分子工具的替代方法。在这项研究中，我们着手评估和确认 MALDI-TOF MS 识别在刚果民主共和国收集并保存在 70% 乙醇中的不同种类蜱的能力。总共 575 只蜱，其中 530 只来自家猪，45 只来自野生动物，进行 MALDI-TOF MS 分析，以评估从不同物种获得的 MS 谱的种内重现性和种间特异性。从形态上讲，蜱属于七个不同的物种，即Rhipicephalus complanatus、Rhipicephalus congolensis、Haemaphysalis muhsamae , Ixodes cumulatimpunctatus , Amblyomma exornatum , Amblyomma compressum和一个身份不明的Rhipicephalussp. 获得的总共 535/575 (93%) 的光谱质量足够好，可用于我们的分析。我们自制的 MALDI-TOF MS 节肢动物数据库升级了从每个物种 1 到 5 个随机选择的标本中获得的光谱。对于这些参考标本，还使用 ​​16S、12S rDNA 基因和 Cox1 mtDNA 基因测序对蜱进行了分子鉴定。然后针对升级后的 MALDI-TOF MS 数据库查询剩余的优质光谱，显示 100% 与形态识别一致，对数评分值 (LSV) 介于 1.813 和 2.51 之间。我们的形态学、分子和 MALDI-TOF MS 鉴定之间的一致性证实了 MALDI-TOF MS 用于蜱识别的能力和精度。