Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42437417›Full record

ArticleAnalytical and bioanalytical chemistry2026

Characterization of the biofilm landscape of Bacillus subtilis by spatial microproteomics.

Kevin J Zemaitis, Mowei Zhou, Sarah M Yannarell, James M Fulcher, Arunima Bhattacharjee, Marija Veličković, David J Degnan, Elizabeth A Shank, Christopher R Anderton, William Kew and 2 more

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Kevin J ZemaitisEnvironmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA. kevin.zemaitis@pnnl.gov.
Mowei ZhouEnvironmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
Sarah M YannarellDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
James M FulcherEnvironmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
Arunima BhattacharjeeEnvironmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
Marija VeličkovićEnvironmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
David J DegnanBiological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
Elizabeth A ShankDepartment of Systems Biology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA.
Christopher R AndertonEnvironmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
William KewEnvironmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
Ljiljana Paša-TolićEnvironmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
Dušan VeličkovićEnvironmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA. dusan.velickovic@pnnl.gov.

Funding

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory 51159
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Bulk proteomics has been demonstrated to differentiate subpopulations based on molecular phenotypes within bacterial colonies, yet advanced analyses by mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) hold even greater promise for the future. This technology can enable high-throughput spatial phenotyping that can directly visualize distinct components of various biomolecular mechanisms with high mass-resolving power in high spatial resolution analyses. Here, we applied MSI for intact protein imaging directly from thin cross-sections of a biofilm of Bacillus subtilis and after minimal preparation we detected more than 285 unique isotopic envelopes corresponding to unique proteoforms. We paired our MSI analyses with bulk top-down proteomics (TDP) to form extensive experimental libraries, which provided us with high confidence MSI annotations based upon isotopic matching to validated post-translational modifications (PTMs) and truncations. This joint application of MSI and TDP allowed us to describe the microscale spatial proteomic landscape within the B. subtilis biofilm. This study further demonstrated the feasibility of detecting differentiated subpopulations of cells through the identification of proteoforms of cannibalistic protein toxins as well as those involved in active sporulation to highly localized areas within the central and outermost periphery of the biofilm.

Indexed as

Bacterial biofilmsBioanalytical methodsMALDIMass spectrometry imagingProteoforms

Identifiers

PMID42437417

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.