The Genus Serratia

CHAPTER 3.3.11 The Genus Serratia 237
for nosocomial strains isolated in Bordeaux.
Most of these S. marcescens strains gave phage
susceptibility patterns that corresponded to
phage types described by F. Grimont (1977);
however, strains isolated in other cities of France
were less often typable, and strains received
from other countries were rarely typable in this
system.
Typing by Enzyme Electrophoresis
By using agar gel electrophoresis, Grimont et al.
1977a and Grimont and Grimont (1978c)
detected seven different proteinases (called P 5,
P 6, P 7, P 9a, P 9b, P 11, and P 12) produced by strains
of S. marcescens. Each S. marcescens strain can
produce one to four proteinases; 651 strains of S.
marcescens, isolated over a period of six years in
a French hospital, gave 33 different proteinase
patterns (called zymotypes). However, six zymotypes
alone accounted for 76% of the isolates.
Proteinase electrophoresis was thus used as an
epidemiological marker (Grimont and Grimont,
1978c).
Goullet (1978, 1981) showed that the Serratia
species were characterized by distinct electrophoretic
patterns of their esterases. However,
these esterase profiles were not used as epidemiological
marker.
Enzyme polymorphism among 99 S. marcescens
isolates was determined by electrophoresis
of nine enzymes (Gargallo-Viola, 1989). More
than one electromorph was found for seven of
these enzymes (alanine dehydrogenase, catalase,
NADP-dependent malic enzyme, 6-phosphogluconate
dehydrogenase, glucose-6-phosphate
dehydrogenase, NADP-dependent glu- tamate
dehydrogenase, and indophenol oxidase), and 33
distinctive electrophoretic types. One group was
represented exclusively by isolates belonging to
nonpigmented biotypes recovered almost
entirely (97%) from clinical samples. The other
group comprised all isolates belonging to a pigmented
biotype. Electrophoresis of glucose-6phosphate
dehydrogenase alone can distinguish
S. marcescens strains belonging to a pigmented
biotype from those belonging to a nonpigmented
biotype (Gargallo et al., 1987). A very good
correlation was found between electrophoretic
periplasmic protein patterns, enzyme electrophoresis,
and biotyping by carbon source utilization
(Gargallo-Viola and Lopez, 1990).
Restriction Patterns
Electrophoretic patterns of fragments produced
after cleavage of total DNA by restriction endonucleases
have been used to compare S. marcescens
strains in epidemiological studies (McGeer
et al., 1990).
A new, generally applicable typing method has
recently been proposed by Grimont and Grimont
(1986) in which the DNA restriction fragments
carrying rRNA genes are visualized after
hybridization with a labelled E. coli 16+23S
rRNA probe (rRNA gene restriction patterns).
Five to seven DNA restriction fragments (after
digestion by Bam HI) or 11 to 13 fragments
(after digestion by EcoRI) were observed with
all Serratia strains tested (Grimont and Grimont,
manuscript in preparation). The different S.
marcescens biogroups display different rRNA
gene restriction pattern. This method should be
useful in resolving occasionally uncertain (or
conflicting) results given by serotyping and
biotyping.
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