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Species and biotype identification ofSerratia strains associated with insects

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Abstract

Forty-eightSerratia strains associated with insects were, identified to species level and biotyped according to recent taxonomic schemes. Each strain was submitted to 36 biochemical tests, including 23 carbon source utilization tests. Twenty-eight strains were assigned to eight biotypes ofSerratia marcescens: A1a, A2a, and A6a (pigmented biotypes: 18 strains); and A3a, A3b, A4a, A5, and TCT (nonpigmented biotypes: 10 strains). However, biotypes A8a, A8b, and A8c, which are frequently involved in nosocomial infections, were not found in insects. Ninetten strains were identified asS. liquefaciens (S. proteamaculans) biotypes C1a (12 strains), C1c (4 strains), C1d (2 strains), and one atypicalS. liquefaciens strain. Only one strain was identified asS. marinorubra (a nonchitinolytic species). The recent emergence ofSerratia in human pathology calls for a reevaluation of the idea of usingSerratia to biologically control insects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Service des Entérobactéries, Institut Pasteur, F-75724, Paris Cedex 15, France

    Patrick A. D. Grimont & Francine Grimont

  2. Insect Pathology, Institute of Entomology, Czechoslovak Academy ofSciences, Flemingovo Náměsti 2, 16609, Praha 6, Czechoslovakia

    Oleg Lysenko

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  1. Patrick A. D. Grimont
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  2. Francine Grimont
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  3. Oleg Lysenko
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Grimont, P.A.D., Grimont, F. & Lysenko, O. Species and biotype identification ofSerratia strains associated with insects. Current Microbiology 2, 139–142 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02605870

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