Vibrational spectroscopy combined with chemometric approaches in bacterial studies: a review of recent advances and applications

Abstract

Bacterial infections remain among the leading causes of global mortality and represent significant challenges to public health. Conventional methods such as cultivation procedures, polymerase chain reaction, and instrumental techniques are routinely used in microbiology laboratories. However, these methods are time-consuming and labor-intensive, and require multi-step sample preparation. Moreover, there is a risk of sample contamination. Recently, vibrational spectroscopic techniques, including near-infrared, mid-infrared, and Raman spectroscopy, have gained considerable attention in microbiology research due to their high-throughput evaluation, non-destructive nature, rapid analysis, cost-effectiveness, and simplicity of application without the need for complex sample preparation steps. In combination with vibrational spectroscopy, chemometric analyses are employed to reduce data dimensionality, extract information related to the molecular structure of biological macromolecules, and eliminate irrelevant details. The present review discusses the applications of vibrational spectroscopy methods combined with chemometric approaches in various microbiological studies, including microbial viability assessment, bacterial inactivation evaluation, bacterial species identification, biofilm formation detection, and antibiotic resistance determination. Near-infrared, mid-infrared, and Raman spectroscopy techniques provide valuable information for clinical researchers and microbiologists within a short time by detecting key bacterial components such as proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and polysaccharides across different spectral ranges. Despite their advantages, supplementary methods are still needed to enhance their precision. In the future, these techniques are expected to advance further to meet the needs of microbiological analyses more efficiently.