  Analysis of bacterial biofilms is particularly challenging and important with
diverse applications from systems biology to biotechnology. Among the variety
of techniques that have been applied, time-of-flight secondary ion mass
spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) has many promising features in studying the surface
characteristics of biofilms. ToF-SIMS offers high spatial resolution and high
mass accuracy, which permit surface sensitive analysis of biofilm components.
Thus, ToF-SIMS provides a powerful solution to addressing the challenge of
bacterial biofilm analysis. This dataset covers ToF-SIMS analysis of Shewanella
oneidensis MR-1 isolated from freshwater lake sediment in New York state. The
MR-1 strain is known to have metal and sulfur reducing properties and it can be
used for bioremediation and wastewater treatment. There is a current need to
identify small molecules and fragments produced from bacterial biofilms. Static
ToF-SIMS spectra of MR-1 were obtained using an IONTOF TOF.SIMS V instrument
equipped with a 25 keV Bi3+ metal ion gun. Identified molecules and molecular
fragments are compared against known biological databases and the reported
peaks have at least 65 ppm mass accuracy. These molecules range from lipids and
fatty acids to flavonoids, quinolones, and other naturally occurring organic
compounds. It is anticipated that the spectral identification of key peaks will
assist detection of metabolites, extracellular polymeric substance molecules
like polysaccharides, and biologically relevant small molecules using ToF-SIMS
in future surface and interface research.
