Microflex lt maldi tof mass spectrometer device

The homogenized tick legs were centrifuged at 2000 g for 30 seconds and 1 μL of the supernatant from each sample was carefully dropped onto the MALDI-TOF target plate as previously described [28 ]. Each spot was then recovered with 1 μL of CHCA matrix solution composed of saturated α-cyano-4-hydroxycynnamic acid (Sigma, Lyon. France), 50% acetonitrile (v/v), 2.5% trifluoroacetic acid (v/v) (Aldrich, Dorset, UK) and HPLC-grade water [16 (link)]. The target plate, after drying for several minutes at room temperature, was introduced into the Microflex LT MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometer device (Bruker Daltonics, Germany) for analysis. The loading of the MS target plate, the matrix quality, and the performance of the MALDI-TOF were performed as previously described [28 ].

Ethanol-preserved ticks were rinsed with distilled water and then dried with filter paper. Four legs from only one side were dissected using a sterile surgical blade used for MALDI-TOF MS analysis. The leg sample preparation was performed using a previously described protocol [27 (link)]. One microliter of the supernatant of the protein extract of each sample was spotted in quadruplicate onto a MALDI-TOF plate (Bruker Daltonics, Wissembourg, France). All spots were left to dry and then covered with 1 μL of HCCA matrix composed of saturated α-cyano-4-hydroxycynnamic acid (Sigma, Lyon, France), 50% acetonitrile, 2.5% trifluoroacetic acid (Aldrich, Dorset, UK) and HPLC grade water [27 (link)]. The target plate was left to dry at room temperature and then introduced into a Microflex LT MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometer device (Bruker Daltonics, Bremen, Germany) for analysis.
The tick’s remaining body was longitudinally cut into two halves, one half being used for molecular identification and the detection of microorganisms and the other half being preserved at −20 °C [27 (link)].

A 1-μl aliquot of the supernatant of each sample was spotted on the MALDI-TOF MS steel target plate (Bruker Daltonics) in quadruplicate and covered with 1 μl of matrix solution (saturated α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid [Sigma-Aldrich Chemie]), 50% (v/v) acetonitrile, 2.5% (v/v) trifluoroacetic acid (Sigma-Aldrich Chemie), following which HPLC-grade water was added. The sample was then analyzed on a Microflex LT MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometer device (Bruker Daltonics). Details on sample loading, MALDI-TOF MS parameters and MS spectra analysis are given in Additional file 1: Data file.