Cytotoxin Production In Phytopathogenic And Entomopathogenic Serratia Marcescens

In this work, culture filtrates of entomopathogenic and phytopathogenic Serratia marcescens strains induced cytotoxic effects on CHO, Vero and HEp-2 cell lines. Morphological changes on sensitive cells were characterized by cell rounding and detachment as soon as 30 min of incubation, culminating in cell death after 24 h. The cytotoxic effect was completely neutralized by specific antiserum indicating that occur antigenic similarity among cytotoxins produced by these strains. The toxicity assays on plants showed that the culture supernatants did not provoke any visible morphological change and did not affect their growth. By contrast, the plants treated with bacterial suspension showed disease symptom, such as shriveling and decay of stores bulbus in onion and lettuce plantlets. In conclusion, this study show that phytopathogenic and entomopathogenic S. marcescens may produce a cytototoxin similar to that produced by clinical isolates and it is toxic to different mammalian cell lines. These results are especially important for studies involving this bacterium as biological control agent.434165170Beriam, L.O.S., Siigaglia, C., Rodrigues Neto, J., Serratia marcescens associada a podridão de cebola armazenada (1990) Fitopatol. Bras., 18, p. 296Campbell, J.R., Diacovo, T., Baker, C.J., Serratia marcescens meningitis in neonates (1992) Ped. Infect. Dis. J., 11, pp. 881-886Carbonell, G.V., Alfieri, A.F., Alfieri, A.A., Vidotto, M.C., Levy, C.E., Darini, A.L.C., Yanaguita, R.M., Detection of cytotoxic activity on Vero cells in clinical isolates of Serratia marcescens (1997) Braz. J. Med. Biol. Res., 30, pp. 1291-1298Carbonell, G.V., Della Colleta, H.H.M., Yano, T., Darini, A.L.C., Levy, C.E., Fonseca, B.A.L., Clinical relevance and virulence factors of pigmented S. marcescens (2000) FEMS Immun. Med. Microbiol., 28, pp. 143-149Carbonell, G.V., Fonseca, B.A.L., Figueiredo, L.T.M., Darini, A.L.C., Yanaguita, R.M., Culture conditions affect cytotoxin production by Serratia marcescens (1996) FEMS Immun. Med. Microbiol., 16, pp. 299-307Finlay, B.B., Falkow, S., Common themes in microbial pathogenicity (1989) Microbiol. Rev., 53, pp. 210-230Grimont, P.A.D., Grimont, F., Lysenko, O., Species and biotype identification of Serratia strains associated with insects (1979) Curr. Microbiol., 2, pp. 139-142Ito, M.F., Paradela Filho, O., Rodrigues Neto, J., Beriam, L.O.S., Longo, R.S., Santos, J.M., Ocorrência de Serratia marcescens Bizio sobre lagartas de Heliothis virescens (Fabr.) (1996) Bragantia, 55 (2), pp. 289-292Kagka, M., Lysenko, O., Chaloupka, J., Exocellular proteases of Serratia marcescens and their toxicity to larvae of Galleria mellonella (1976) Folia Microbiol, 21, pp. 465-473Lysenko, O., Chitinase of Serratia marcescens and its toxicity to insects (1976) J. Invertebr. Pathol., 27, pp. 385-386Meltz, D.J., Grieco, M.H., Characteristics of Serratia marcescens pneumonia (1973) Arch. Int. Med., 132, pp. 359-364Murashige, T., Skoog, F., A revised medium for rapid growth and bioassays with tobacco tissue culture (1962) Physiol. Plant., 5, pp. 473-497Nakashima, A.K., McCarthy, M.A., Martone, W.J., Anderson, R.L., Epidemic arthritis caused by Serratia marcescens and associated with a benzalkonium chloride antiseptic (1987) J. Clin. Microbiol., 25, p. 1014Okuda, T., Endo, N., Osada, Y., Outbreak of nosocomial urinary tract infections caused by Serratia marcescens (1981) J. Clin. Microbiol., 20, pp. 691-695Parreira, V.R., Yano, T., Cytotoxin produced by Escherichia coli isolated from chickens with swollen head syndrome (SHS) (1998) Vet. Microbiol., 62, pp. 111-119Thelestam, M., Florin, I., Assay of cytopathogenic toxins in cultured cells (1994) Methods Enzymol., 235, pp. 679-690Volkow-Fernández, P., Léon-Rosales, S.P., Sifuentes-Osornio, J., Calva-Mercado, J.J., Ruiz-Palacios, G.M., Cérbon, Ma., Epidemia de bacteremias primarias por una cepa endémica de Serratia marcescens en una unidad de terapia intensiva (1993) Salud Pública de México, 35, pp. 440-44