<i>DIVISION OF MICROBIOLOGY</i>: FROM SUPERSTITION TO SCIENCE: THE HISTORY OF A BACTERIUM*

Gaughran, Eugene R. L.

doi:10.1111/j.2164-0947.1969.tb02887.x

Cited by 55 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In his 1823 paper, Bizio determined that the cause of the red polenta was an organism he believed to be a fungus that he named Serratia marcescens, after the Italian physicist Serafino Serrati, who pioneered early work on steamboats (37,49,264). His description of the genus Serratia was "small, stemless fungi; hemispherical capsules occurring in clusters," and his description of S. marcescens was "a very thin vesicle filled at first with a pink, then with a red fluid" (37,49,144,264). Bizio observed that small red spots would appear on the cornmeal mush, get larger, and eventually coalesce into a reddish mass of gelatin.…”

Section: Early Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bizio did not officially publish his results until 1823, when he wrote a letter to Angelino Bellani, a priest, defending his original anonymous article from a paper written by Pietro Melo, Director of the Botanical Garden at Saonara (49). Melo contended, in a paper he wrote in 1819 after he also investigated the phenomenon, that the discolored polenta was due to spontaneous fermentation that turned the polenta into a "colored mucilage" (49,144). In his 1823 paper, Bizio determined that the cause of the red polenta was an organism he believed to be a fungus that he named Serratia marcescens, after the Italian physicist Serafino Serrati, who pioneered early work on steamboats (37,49,264).…”

Section: Early Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Serratia Infections: from Military Experiments to Current Practice

2011

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SUMMARY Serratia species, in particular Serratia marcescens , are significant human pathogens. S. marcescens has a long and interesting taxonomic, medical experimentation, military experimentation, and human clinical infection history. The organisms in this genus, particularly S. marcescens , were long thought to be nonpathogenic. Because S. marcescens was thought to be a nonpathogen and is usually red pigmented, the U.S. military conducted experiments that attempted to ascertain the spread of this organism released over large areas. In the process, members of both the public and the military were exposed to S. marcescens , and this was uncovered by the press in the 1970s, leading to U.S. congressional hearings. S. marcescens was found to be a certain human pathogen by the mid-1960s. S. marcescens and S. liquefaciens have been isolated as causative agents of numerous outbreaks and opportunistic infections, and the association of these organisms with point sources such as medical devices and various solutions given to hospitalized patients is striking. Serratia species appear to be common environmental organisms, and this helps to explain the large number of nosocomial infections due to these bacteria. Since many nosocomial infections are caused by multiply antibiotic-resistant strains of S. marcescens , this increases the danger to hospitalized patients, and hospital personnel should be vigilant in preventing nosocomial outbreaks due to this organism. S. marcescens , and probably other species in the genus, carries several antibiotic resistance determinants and is also capable of acquiring resistance genes. S. marcescens and S. liquefaciens are usually identified well in the clinical laboratory, but the other species are rare enough that laboratory technologists may not recognize them. 16S rRNA gene sequencing may enable better identification of some of the less common Serratia species.

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Section: Early Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Early Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Serratia Infections: from Military Experiments to Current Practice

2011

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“…Other representatives of the prodiginine family have since been identified among the colored metabolites produced by Actinomadura species (9)(10)(11)(12). A noteworthy feature of prodiginines from the actinomycetes is the pattern of alkyl substitution in ring C. Whereas prodigiosin and its congeners from eubacteria possess a methyl substituent at C(2) and differ from one another in the length of the alkyl chain attached to C(3) (1,13), the actinomycete prodiginines are unsubstituted at C(3) but have an extended alkyl chain 9 or 11 carbons long at C (2). Nonylprodiginine (1, R l = (CH,),CH,, R, = R, = R, = H) has been found only in Acti~iomadura species while undecylprodiginine (1, R, = (CH,),,CH,, R, = R, = R, = H) is present in Streptomyces, StreptoverticiNum, and Actinomadura species (14).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Biosynthesis of prodiginines. ¹³C resonance assignments and enrichment patterns in nonyl-, cyclononyl-, methylcyclodecyl-, and butylcycloheptylprodiginine produced by actinomycete cultures supplemented with ¹³C-labeled acetate and ¹⁵N-labeled nitrate

Gerber¹,

McInnes²,

Smith³

et al. 1978

Can. J. Chem.

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. Can. J Chem. 56, 11 55 (1978). Resonances in the 13C nmr spectra of nonylprodiginine, cyclononylprodiginine, methylcyclodecylprodiginine, and butylcycloheptylprodiginine were assigned using information from the literature, from high resolution spectra and double irradiation experiments, and from ' 3 C -1 5 N~~~p l i n g~ observed in samples of nonylprodiginine enriched with I5N. Supplementation of cultures with sodium [I-13C]-and [1,2-13C]acetate gave I3C-enriched prodiginines and the labeling patterns were established from 13C nmr spectra. These indicated that rings A and B were formed in a similar manner to rings A and B in prodigiosin and other prodiginine pigments. Ring C and ihe C2-alkyl substituent were derived in part from acetate units that were condensed in a linear 12-or 14-carbon chain. The same pattern of acetate assembly has been found in all actinomycete prodiginines examined.

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“…Para aislar el principio infeccioso que producía el prodigio de "la polenta sangrienta" 2 , Bizio utilizó trozos de papa, que le permitieron ver cómo la colonia bacteriana -que él estimaba un hongo-enrojecía progresivamente y luego se marchitaba. Casi treinta años después, Ehrenberg lograría revivir la Serratia en un pedazo de carne seca, que inoculó en papa hervida y luego en rebanadas de pan y de queso 3 . El gran avance vino con Colón… perdón, con Koch, quien, buscando una substancia con la cual solidificar sus caldos, dio con la gelatina.…”

Section: Rev Chil Infect Edición Aniversario 2003; 18-20unclassified

En los 500 años del descubrimiento: Colones y Pinzones de la microbiología

D¹

2003

Rev. chil. infectol.

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In the five hundred years of the Discovery: Colones and Pinzones of the Microbiology En 1992 se han completado quinientos años de gloria para Cristóbal Colón. Pero… ¿toda para él y nada para los otros? Hubo predecesores, hubo quienes compartieron sus ideas y quienes lo orientaron y hasta lo acompañaron en su aventura. Al celebrar los cinco siglos del gran descubrimiento nos vienen a la mente situaciones similares, no en el campo geográfico, sino en el de nuestra especialidad médi-ca. Parker y Leikind 1 sostienen que, en este terreno, hay muchos que recolectan perlas ("cuentas" dicen ellos) y muy pocos que las ensartan para formar un collar. Recordando el 12 de octubre de 1492, preferimos hablar de Colones y de Pinzones, para referirnos a quienes hicieron los grandes descubrimientos o invenciones y a los que contribuyeron con sólo una perla al avance de la ciencia, respectivamente. Por ahora, a fin de no aburrir al lector, contentémo-nos con el terreno de la microbiología y con citar apenas algunos ejemplos escogidos.Roberto Koch fue, sin duda, un Colón. Sin embargo, como si todos sus hallazgos no bastaran a su gloria, suelen atribuírsele, ligeramente, algunos que no hizo. Entre ellos, el de los medios de cultivo sólidos, que permitieron un avance fabuloso de la microbiología, proporcionando un substrato para el fácil aislamiento e identificación de las distintas especies de un cultivo polimicrobiano. Aquí la lista de los Pinzones es extensa, comenzando por Bartolomeo Bizio, quien en 1823 describió, aunque erróneamen-te, la especie bacteriana de nombre más antiguo en la actualidad: Serratia marscecens. Para aislar el principio infeccioso que producía el prodigio de "la polenta sangrienta" 2 , Bizio utilizó trozos de papa, que le permitieron ver cómo la colonia bacteriana -que él estimaba un hongo-enrojecía progresivamente y luego se marchitaba. Casi treinta años después, Ehrenberg lograría revivir la Serratia en un pedazo de carne seca, que inoculó en papa hervida y luego en rebanadas de pan y de queso 3 . El gran avance vino con Colón… perdón, con Koch, quien, buscando una substancia con la cual solidificar sus caldos, dio con la gelatina. Koch tenía la visión genial de lo que significaría un medio sólido para el desarrollo de la bacteriología y buscaba directamente su camino a las Indias. Dio con el sendero equivocado, porque la gelatina se licuaba a los 35 grados de la estufa de cultivo, en tanto que algunas bacterias capaces de crecer a 22 grados, temperatura que permitía su solidificación, se la "comían" con sus enzimas proteolíticas.En este momento aparecen los Pinzones, en este caso marido y mujer: el matrimonio Hesse. Walter Hesse fue un inquieto médico alemán, quien habiendo "hecho una pasadita" por laboratorio de Koch, quedó tan entusiasmado con la bacteriología que, de vuelta a casa, se puso a estudiar las bacterias que pululaban por el aire de su estudio. Frau Hesse, diligente y abnegada, se esforzaba en la cocina preparando los caldos para las bacterias y la sopa para su marido, con las necesarias di...

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DIVISION OF MICROBIOLOGY: FROM SUPERSTITION TO SCIENCE: THE HISTORY OF A BACTERIUM*

Cited by 55 publications

References 9 publications

Serratia Infections: from Military Experiments to Current Practice

Serratia Infections: from Military Experiments to Current Practice

Biosynthesis of prodiginines. ¹³C resonance assignments and enrichment patterns in nonyl-, cyclononyl-, methylcyclodecyl-, and butylcycloheptylprodiginine produced by actinomycete cultures supplemented with ¹³C-labeled acetate and ¹⁵N-labeled nitrate

En los 500 años del descubrimiento: Colones y Pinzones de la microbiología

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DIVISION OF MICROBIOLOGY: FROM SUPERSTITION TO SCIENCE: THE HISTORY OF A BACTERIUM*

Cited by 55 publications

References 9 publications

Serratia Infections: from Military Experiments to Current Practice

Serratia Infections: from Military Experiments to Current Practice

Biosynthesis of prodiginines. 13C resonance assignments and enrichment patterns in nonyl-, cyclononyl-, methylcyclodecyl-, and butylcycloheptylprodiginine produced by actinomycete cultures supplemented with 13C-labeled acetate and 15N-labeled nitrate

En los 500 años del descubrimiento: Colones y Pinzones de la microbiología

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Biosynthesis of prodiginines. ¹³C resonance assignments and enrichment patterns in nonyl-, cyclononyl-, methylcyclodecyl-, and butylcycloheptylprodiginine produced by actinomycete cultures supplemented with ¹³C-labeled acetate and ¹⁵N-labeled nitrate