Introduction of Serratia marcescens
Table of Contents
Serratia is a member of the family, Enterobacteriaceae and it is a Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped lacking spore and capsule bacterium. This is a Gram-negative rod/ bacilli that thrive in moist environments. It frequently contaminates solutions and hospital equipment and the human reservoirs are the urinary and respiratory tracts as well as the gastrointestinal tract of children. The genus is named after Serafino Serrati, an Italian physicist. In 1819, Bartolomeo Bizio, a pharmacist from Padua, Italy, discovered and named Serratia marcescens when he identified the bacterium as the cause of a miraculous bloody discoloration in a cornmeal mush called polenta. Bizio named Serratia in honor of an Italian physicist named Serrati, who invented the steamboat, and Bizio chose marcescens (from the Latin word for decaying) because the bloody pigment was found to deteriorate quickly.

Identification Features of Serratia marcescens
Basic Features | Properties |
1. Gram Staining | Gram-Negative Rods (GNRs) |
2. Spore | Non-Sporing |
3. Capsule | Non-Capsulated |
4. Motility | Motile |
5. Pigment | Positive (Prodigiosin) |
6. Growth in potassium cyanide (KCN) medium | Positive |
7. Catalase test | Positive |
8. Oxidase test | Negative |
9. Nitrate reduction test | Positive |
10. MR (Methyl Red) test | Negative |
11. VP (Voges- Proskauer) assay | Positive |
12. OF (Oxidative-Fermentative) test | Fermentative\facultative anaerobe |
13. Gas formation | Variable |
14. H2S production | Negative |
15. Indole formation | Negative |
16. Urease/urea hydrolysis test | Positive |
17. Citrate/citrate utilization | Positive |
18. DNase test | Positive |
19. Glucose fermentation | Positive |
20. Maltose fermentation | Positive |
21. Lactose fermentation | Negative |
22. Sucrose fermentation | Positive |
23. Xylose fermentation | Negative |
24. Mannitol fermentation | Positive |
25. Acetate Utilization | Variable |
26. ONPG (β-galactosidase) | Positive |
27. Phenylalanine Deaminase (PDA)/PPA Test | Negative |
28. Lipase test | Positive |
29. Esculin Hydrolysis test | Positive |
30. Lysine Decarboxylase Test | Positive |
31. Ornithine Decarboxylase Test | Positive |
32. Arginine Dihydrolase Test | Negative |
S. marcescens Footages
Serratia marcescens colony morphology on MacConkey agar

Prodigiosin pigment of Serratia marcescens on Muller-Hinton agar

Pink colony of S. marcescens on nutrient agar

Gram negative rods (GNRs) of Serratia in Gram staining of culture

Serratia marcescens biochemical tests

Serratia marcescens growth on MHA and nutrient agar at 37°C and room temperature (25°C) respectively

Further Readings
- https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.612.8476&rep=rep1&type=pdf
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/serratia
- Cowan & Steel’s Manual for identification of Medical Bacteria. Editors: G.I. Barron & R.K. Felthani, 3rd ed 1993, Publisher Cambridge University Press.
- Bailey & Scott’s Diagnostic Microbiology. Editors: Bettey A. Forbes, Daniel F. Sahm & Alice S. Weissfeld, 12th ed 2007, Publisher Elsevier.
- Mackie and Mc Cartney Practical Medical Microbiology. Editors: J.G. Colle, A.G. Fraser, B.P. Marmion, A. Simmous, 4th ed, Publisher Churchill Living Stone, New York, Melborne, Sans Franscisco 1996.
- Textbook of Diagnostic Microbiology. Editors: Connie R. Mahon, Donald G. Lehman & George Manuselis, 3rd edition2007, Publisher Elsevier.
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