What is Serratia used for?
Serratia marcescens (S. marcescens) is a gram-negative bacillus that occurs naturally in soil and water and produces a red pigment at room temperature. It is associated with urinary and respiratory infections, endocarditis, osteomyelitis, septicemia, wound infections, eye infections, and meningitis.
What is the ecological role of Serratia marcescens?
Primarily it uses fermentation as the means of gathering energy and has enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase or peroxides) that protect it from reactive oxygen species, allowing it to live in oxygenated environments. Serratia marcescens is a gram negative bacterium.
Where is Serratia marcescens normally found?
Serratia marcescens, which can cause nosocomial outbreaks,and urinary tract and wound infections, is abundant in damp environments (Figure). It can be easily found in bathrooms, including shower corners and basins, where it appears as a pink–orange–red discoloration, due to the pigment known as prodigiosin.
How did I get Serratia marcescens?
Medical equipment, lotions, antiseptics, medications, blood products and sinks have also been described as the sources of epidemics. Serratia marcescens accounts for only 1-2% of the nosocomial infections which are mostly confined to the respiratory tract, the urinary tract, surgical wounds and soft tissues.
Why is Serratia marcescens an important infectious disease?
Once considered a harmless saprophyte, Serratia marcescens is now recognized as an important opportunistic pathogen combining a propensity for healthcare-associated infection and antimicrobial resistance.
When did Bartolomeo Bizio discover Serratia marcescens?
Serratia marcescens (/səˈreɪʃiə mɑːrˈsɛsɪnz/) is a species of rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacteria, that is also a facultative anaerobic organism, classified as an opportunistic pathogen in the family Enterobacteriaceae. It was discovered in 1819 by Bartolomeo Bizio in Padua, Italy.
Where can you find Serratia marcescens streak plate?
Streak Plate of Serratia marcescens Where Is Serratia Marcescens Found? Serratia marcescens is found in fresh and stagnant water or saline, in the soil, and in plants, insects, and animals including the human species. It has known pathogenicity for non- plant life made even more potent through its characteristic multi-antibiotic resistance.
How are Serratia marcescens isolated from rice roots?
Serratia marcescens strains have been isolated from surface-sterilized roots and stems of different rice varieties. More detailed studies using light and transmission electron microscopy combined with immunogold labeling confirmed an endophytical establishment within roots, stems, and leaves.
How is Serratia marcescens used in infectious disease experiments?
Consequently, S. marcescens was used in a number of classic bacterial transmission experiments, which led to improved understanding of the epidemiology of infection ( 124 ).
Why was S.marcescens used in biological warfare?
At the time S. marcescens seemed like the ideal proxy for a deadly bacterial attack, like one using anthrax. Living in the soil, it produces a handy, bright, blood-red pigment, a property often exploited in microbiology as a biological marker allowing scientists to track its transmission in various situations.
When was Serratia marcescens released in San Francisco?
As part of a bioweapon experiment, Serratia marcescens (pictured on an agar plate above) was released in San Francisco back in 1950. ( Nathan Reading /Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
What kind of food did Serratia marcescens eat?
At that time polenta was an important food of the people, but the cornmeal dish was found to be discolored red during a particularly warm and humid summer. Many strains of S. marcescens have a red pigment, as shown in the picture below.
