Serratia

Serratia is a genus of Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic bacteria in the Enterobacteriaceae family. The primary species is S. marcescens, famous for its red pigment prodigiosin and its role as a nosocomial opportunistic pathogen. In the WikiBiome vault, Serratia appears across reproductive tract, cardiovascular, and oncology contexts.

Key Associations

  • Enterobacteriaceae identification: Part of the Enterobacteriaceae panel relevant to clinical dysbiosis assessment [1].
  • Colorectal cancer: Identified in CRC-associated microbiome studies [2].
  • Cardiovascular disease: Part of gut microbiota associated with vascular biomarkers in subclinical CVD [3].
  • Prostate/reproductive: Present in prostate cancer-associated microbiome and seminal fluid studies [4] [5] [6].

Metal Dependencies

S. marcescens produces metalloproteases (zinc-dependent) and requires iron for growth. Like other Enterobacteriaceae, it possesses siderophore-mediated iron acquisition systems.

Cross-References

References (6)

  1. Khan F, Rizvi M, Shukla I et al. (2011). A Novel Approach for Identification of Members of Enterobacteriaceae Isolated from Clinical Samples. Biology and Medicine
  2. Marchesi JR, Dutilh BE, Hall N et al. (2011). Towards the Human Colorectal Cancer Microbiome. PLOS ONE. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020447
  3. Daria Kashtanova, Olga Tkacheva, Anna Popenko et al. (2017). Gut microbiota and vascular biomarkers in patients without clinical cardiovascular diseases. Artery Research. doi:10.1016/j.artres.2017.02.007
  4. Shaun Trecarten, Michael A. Liss, Jill Hamilton-Reeves et al. (2025). Trecarten 2025 — Obesity, Dietary Interventions and Microbiome Alterations in Prostate Cancer. Frontiers in Immunology. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2024.1448116
  5. Filipe T. Lira Neto, Marina C. Viana, Federica Cariati et al. (2024). Neto 2024 — Effect of Environmental Factors on Seminal Microbiome and Impact on Sperm Quality. Frontiers in Endocrinology. doi:10.3389/fendo.2024.1348186
  6. Apurva Virmani Johri, Pranav Johri, Naomi Hoyle et al. (2023). Johri 2023 — Successful Treatment of Recurrent E. coli Infection with Bacteriophage Therapy for Chronic Bacterial Prostatitis. Frontiers in Pharmacology. doi:10.3389/fphar.2023.1243824

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