Nonjabulo Felicia Sibeta
Greetings Earthlings, I'm a lively red prokaryotic being. I'm most famous for my bright deep crimson color on petri dishes. Can you guess which bacteria I am?
I've existed since the early 1800s, I was discovered by Bartolmeo Bizio in Padua Italy in the year 1819. It is romoured that the early Christians thought that I was the blood of Christ as I manifested as dark red colonies in moist areas and bread. I am Serratia marcescens but you ca call me S. marcescens for short.
S. marcescens is a motile, short rod-shaped, Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic bacterium that is classified as an opportunistic pathogen. When grown on TSA for 48 hours at 37°C then held at room temp for 24 hours S. marcescens is circular, and has a red to orange pigment due to the production of prodigiosin.
S. marcescens is known to cause opportunistic infections in several sites in humans, including the urinary tract, respiratory tract, wounds, and the eyes. In the eye it may cause conjunctivitis, keratitis, endophthalmitis, and tear duct infections. It is also a rare cause of endocarditis and osteomyelitis, which is particularly common in people who use intravenous drugs recreationally, pneumonia, and meningitis. Abundant number of S. marcescens strains are resistant to several antibiotics because of the presence of R-factors, which are a type of plasmid that carry one or more genes that encode resistance; all are considered intrinsically resistant to ampicillin, macrolides, and first-generation cephalosporins . However S. marcescens does not only affect humans , it also been found pathogenic to Elkhorn coral reefs where it results in white pox disease and in silkworms where it causes lethal diseases in partnership with other pathogens in nature.
Serratia marcescens Top # 5 Facts. Besides the basic hype of my color , here are some interesting facts about S. marcescens.
Pink mold in the shower actually is not pink mold at all believe it or not, it is actually may be _S. marcescens _ as they manifest as pink to orange discoloration when growing in highly moist areas such as the bathroom, toilet water pipes and in basins. Watch the video to learn what it is and how to clean it!
1Centro de Investigación en Dinámica Celular, Instituto de Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad 1001, Col. Chamilpa, CP 62209, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico; E-Mail: xm.meau@cplm
An overview of how where S. marcescens is found, what infections they are associated with and how to treat them. An easier way to remember this bacteria as sketches are used to ignite imagination.
Serratia marcescens is short and rod shaped when viewed under the microscope. S. marcescens is a gram negative bacterium. Gram negative bacteria have a thin cell wall made of a single layer of peptidoglycan that is enclosed by an outer membrane. S. marcescens is motile and travels by several different means. A single S. marcescens bacterium can swim with the use of its flagellum.
The wide range of biological activities including antimalaria, antimalarial, Immuno-suppressant, and antibiotic activities of Prodigiosin have been renewed in attention. Per capacities to cause apoptosis of malignant cancer cells are perhaps best known. The exact mechanism for this inhibition is highly complex and not fully explained. It may however include many procedures, among which inhibition of phosphatases, copper-mediated double stranded DNA clovage or pH-gradient disruption by H+ and Cl- ion transmembrane transport. Consequently prodigiosine is a highly promising lead in the treatment of pancreatic cancer and is currently under investigation in a pre-clinical phase.
