Conclusion
MALDI-TOF MS was proven an easy to apply, cost-effective and time-saving
tool for identification across taxa. It is especially feasible in
applications where mere species identification is desired, for example
in biodiversity assessments. By the standardized workflow, a wide range
of marine metazoan specimens can be identified quantitatively and
effectively on species level thereby bypassing some of the high
requirements associated with genetic methods, such as access to special
laboratories, searching for primers etc. We want to highlight here that
proteomic fingerprinting will be due to its simplicity, reliability and
efficiency a valuable supplement to the molecular toolbox for taxonomy.