# data[].attributes.body
Serratia marcescens

# data[].attributes.body
- Facultative anaerobe
-> Can grow in presence of Oxygen (aerobic)
-> Can also grow in absence of Oxygen (anaerobic)
-> Uses fermentation to gather energy and has enzyme

- Gram-negative bacteria
-> Have thin cell wall made of single layer of peptidoglycan that is enclosed by an outer membrane
-> Have lipopolysaccharides (LPS), which is the special kind of phospholipid composed of fatty acids that attached to a glucosamine phosphate dimer.
-> Produced an unpleasant yet somewhat sweet odour

- Motile
-> Single S. marcescens can swim by using its own flagellum.
-> By swarming

- Red pigmentation
-> Produced a characteristic of red molecule called prodigiosin

References:
Bry, Lynn. “Re: How and why did Serratia marcescens produce prodigiosin?” 5 June 2005.
11 October 2017.
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2005-06/1117999360.Mi.r.html

Microbewiki (1 April 2011)
https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Serratia_marcescens

Simurda, Maryanne. “Department of Biology Faculty and Research.” 9 Nov. 2008.
https://www.wlu.edu/directory/profile?ID=x8127

# data[].attributes.body
Shape:
- Very small, straight rods with rounded ends
- Short rod-shape
- Resembled diplococci at 1000x

Size:
- 0.5 - 1 μm in diameter
- <2 μm in length

Reference:
Rice University (2012)
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bioslabs/bios318/characterization_example.pdf

# data[].attributes.body
Uses
*Role in biowarfare testing
- S. marcescens was erroneously believed to be a nonpathogenic "saprophyte" and its reddish coloration was used in school experiments to track infections.
- During the Cold War, it was used as a simulant in biological warfare testing by the U.S. Military which studied it in field tests as a substitute for the ulameria bacterium, which was being weaponized at the time.

*Ground water flow tracing
- Because of its ability to be grown on agar plates into even, well coloured lawns, and the existence of a phage specific to S. marscecens, it has been used to trace water flows in Karst limestone systems.

Misuse.
*Contaminated Injectables
-  S. marcescens has also been linked to 19 cases in Alabama hospitals in 2011, including 10 deaths. All of the patients involved were receiving total parentaral nutrition at the time, and this is being investigated as a possible source of the outbreak

1.http://www.businessinsider.my/military-government-secret-experiments-biological-chemical-weapons-2016-9/?r=US&IR=T

2.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4305132/

3.  "How the U.S. Government Exposed Thousands of Americans to Lethal Bacteria to Test Biological Warfare". Democracy Now!. 13 July 2005. Retrieved 6 June 2016

# data[].attributes.body
Kingdom :  Bacteria Cavalier-Smith, 2002 – bactéries, bacteria, bacterias, bactérias

Subkingdom :  Negibacteria Cavalier-Smith, 2002

Phylum :   Proteobacteria Garrity et al., 2005

Class :   Gammaproteobacteria Garrity et al., 2005

Order : Enterobacteriales Garrity and Holt, 2001

Family : Enterobacteriaceae Rahn, 1937

Genus :  Serratia Bizio, 1823
Species : Serratia marcescens Bizio, 1823

Direct Children:
Subspecies Serratia marcescens marcescens Bizio, 1823

Subspecies Serratia marcescens sakuensis Ajithkumar et al., 2003

References :
1.https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=958620#null

# data[].attributes.body
Serratia marcescens is found in various ecological niches, including soil, water, air, plants and animals. S. marcescens was defined by Grimont and Grimont as an oxidase-negative gram-negative bacillus
producing DNAase.

Optimally, S. marcescens grows at 37°C, but it can grow in temperatures that range from 5–40°C. They grow in pH levels that range from 5 to 9. Serratia marcescens is well known for the red pigmentation it produces called prodigiosin. Prodigiosin is made up of three pyrrole rings and is not produced at 37°C, but at temperatures below 30°C

Prodigiosin biosynthesis in S. marcescens depends on
growth conditions, pigment synthesis started later in the presence of NaCl. However, a culture medium containing
glucose as the carbon and energy source did not allow
prodigiosin synthesis.

# data[].attributes.headline
Biochemical test for identification of Serratia marcescens. Test for basic characteristics:  Catalase test (positive) due to formation of bubbles, oxidase test (negative), gelatin hydrolysis (positive), indole productions( negative)due to extraction of cell pigment into upper organic layer  and motility test (positive). They are facultative anaerobes. Fermentation of sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose gives a positive result whereas for lactose negative result.

# data[].attributes.subject
Biochemical test for identification of Serratia marcescens. Test for basic characteristics:  Catalase test (positive) due to formation of bubbles, oxidase test (negative), gelatin hydrolysis (positive), indole productions( negative)due to extraction of cell pigment into upper organic layer  and motility test (positive). They are facultative anaerobes. Fermentation of sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose gives a positive result whereas for lactose negative result.

# data[].attributes.body
1)Jorgensen JH and Ferraro MJ (2009). Research article: Journal of Molecular and Genetic Medicine. Vol.9 (2015)
2) Microbiology Info (2017)
https://microbiologyinfo.com/biochemical-test-and-identification-of-serratia-marcescens/

# data[].attributes.body
The reason we choose Serratia marcescens is because we feel interested with this bacteria during our lab session. We found this bacteria was in bright red colour and this make us decide to study futher about this

# data[].attributes.body
Serratia marcescens was first discovered by Bartolomeo Bizio in Padua, Italy in the year 1823. It's name was later changed to Chromobacterium prodigiosum by Gaughran et al. for its ability to produce the red pigment, prodigiosin. The originally name was restored in 1920s.

S. marcescens was originally considerred as innocuous, non pathogenic saprophytic water organism. With those properties, it is often used as a biological marker as its red colony can be easily recognized.
It was later identified to contribute more death than many pathogen bacteria by Professor Scheurlen from University of Starsbourg.

S. marcescens has now been implicated as aetiological agent in every conceivable kind of infection such as respiratory tract infection, urinary tract infection, septicaemia, meningitis and wound infection.

Hejazi, A. & Falkiner, F. R.. (1997). Review Article: Serratia marcescens. Journal of Medical Microbiology. Vol. 46 (1997), 903-912

# data[].attributes.body
Gram staining- Gram negative
Endospore staining- negative
Negative stain- not required
Flagella- positive
It shows red because it produce the red pigmentation called prodigiosin

I. N. Andreyeva , T. I. Ogorodnikova (2015). Pigmentation of Serratia marcescens and spectral properties of prodigiosin.  Volume 84, Issue  1, pp 28–33