59-457: S. aquatilis S. entomophila S. ficaria S. fonticola S. glossinae S. grimesii S. liquefaciens S. marcescens S. myotis S. nematodiphila S. odorifera S. plymuthica S. proteamaculans S. quinivorans S. rubidaea S. symbiotica S. ureilytica S. vespertilionis Serratia is a genus of Gram-negative , facultatively anaerobic , rod-shaped bacteria of
118-442: A critical point. This simultaneous collapse occurs, because pollinator species depend on each other when surviving under difficult conditions. Such a community-wide collapse, involving many pollinator species, can occur suddenly when increasingly harsh conditions pass a critical point and recovery from such a collapse might not be easy. The improvement in conditions needed for pollinators to recover could be substantially larger than
177-675: A different definition between mutualism and symbiosis, they have been largely used interchangeably in the past, and confusion on their use has persisted. Mutualism plays a key part in ecology and evolution . For example, mutualistic interactions are vital for terrestrial ecosystem function as: A prominent example of pollination mutualism is with bees and flowering plants. Bees use these plants as their food source with pollen and nectar. In turn, they transfer pollen to other nearby flowers, inadvertently allowing for cross-pollination. Cross-pollination has become essential in plant reproduction and fruit/seed production. The bees get their nutrients from
236-452: A further term in the formula, representing a saturation mechanism, to avoid this occurring. In 1989, David Hamilton Wright modified the above Lotka–Volterra equations by adding a new term, βM / K , to represent a mutualistic relationship. Wright also considered the concept of saturation, which means that with higher densities, there is a decrease in the benefits of further increases of the mutualist population. Without saturation, depending on
295-440: A growth pigment, is often used as a phenotypic identification marker of Serratia species due to its red colorization. Biosurfactants have been isolated from Serratia marcescens , Serratia rubidaea and Serratia faciens for their range of applications, including emulsification , surface, antifouling , antitumor, and antimicrobial activity. Endonucleases , such as DNAse, may aid in scavenging activity, allowing them to exploit
354-768: A hand infection in another French woman. S. fonticola has been recovered from several other patients over the years. There are not many reports of S. quinivoran causing infection in humans. A homeless man in France was admitted to the hospital with a mouth abscess. The man developed pneumonia and respiratory issues. S. quinivoran was recovered from a sample and was later identified as the cause of his organ failure and death. S. rubidaea , S. odorifera , and S. plymuthica are other Serratia species that are human pathogens. However, not all Serratia species are human pathogens. S. entomophia and S. proteamaculans are insect and plant pathogens. Species of Serratia have been isolated in
413-492: A key nutritional role by providing the host with vitamins and amino acids. In 2017 it was reported that Serratia can be genetically engineered to prevent malaria in mosquitos. Research showed 93% fewer Plasmodium parasites than in untreated counterparts. S. marcescens is the most characterized species in this genus. During the summer in Padura, Italy, the town people discovered that their polenta dish turned red. At first,
472-526: A non-nosocomial infection in animals was found in one study, after S. marcescens was found to be correlated with early abortions in buffalos and cows. The pathogen was isolated in culture after researchers observed reddish vaginal discharge from the cows, and the pathogen was also discovered to be in the semen of a bull, all of which were from the same strain. S. marcescens and S. proteamaculans are considered to be opportunistic plant pathogens . S. marcescens causes cucurbit yellow vine disease (CYVD). CYVD
531-469: A phenomenon that is used in Three Sisters farming . One researcher has proposed that the key advantage Homo sapiens had over Neanderthals in competing over similar habitats was the former's mutualism with dogs. The microbiota in the human intestine coevolved with the human species, and this relationship is considered to be a mutualism that is beneficial both to the human host and the bacteria in
590-627: A pinkish to red biofilm but only causes disease in immunocompromised individuals. Aside from S. marcescens , some rare strains of the Serratia species – S. plymuthica , S. liquefaciens , S. rubidaea , and S. odoriferae – have been shown to cause infection such as osteomyelitis and endocarditis. Various strains of Serratia occupy an eclectic range of habitats: soil, water, plants, insects, and others. Currently, four species of Serratia have been found in seawater: S. marcescens , S. liquefaciens , S. plymuthica , and S. marinorubra . S. marcescens
649-595: A plant trades food resources in the form of nectar or pollen for the service of pollen dispersal. However, daciniphilous Bulbophyllum orchid species trade sex pheromone precursor or booster components via floral synomones /attractants in a true mutualistic interactions with males of Dacini fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacinae). Phagophiles feed (resource) on ectoparasites , thereby providing anti-pest service, as in cleaning symbiosis . Elacatinus and Gobiosoma , genera of gobies , feed on ectoparasites of their clients while cleaning them. Zoochory
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#1732877349315708-450: A species belonging to the fig tree community, can also be harmful to humans. In 1979, S. ficaria was first isolated from a patient who had a respiratory infection. The organism was isolated from the patient's sputum after she consumed a fig. The organisms continued to be isolated from several humans over the years. The last documented infection caused by S. ficaria was in Greece. A healthy man
767-506: A variety of environments, including soil, water, plants, animals and even air. Several methods can be used to study the epidemiology of S. marcescens . Usual enrichment strategies involve the use of media containing antibiotic and antifungal substances. A caprylate -thallous medium seems to be highly preferred for the selective growth of genus Serratia , as it can use caprylic acid as a carbon source. Serological typing and different types of polymerase chain reaction can be used to identify
826-494: Is 3.57 × 10 daltons. The range of G+C content of each species is as follows: S. marcescens 57.5–60.4%, S. liquefaciens 52.6–54.4%, S. plymuthica 53.3–56.3%, S. marinorubra 53.5–58.5%. S. macescens genome has the highest G+C content among all enterobacteria. Serratia secretes a host of virulence factors, including prodigiosin , biosurfactants , DNAse , lipase , protease , gelatinase , hemolysin , chitinase , chloroperoxidase , and alkaline phosphatase . Prodigiosin,
885-401: Is associated with leaf spot disease . Leaf spot disease is usually caused by a fungus, but can also be caused by bacteria (e.g. S. proteamaculans ). Leaf spot disease appears as brown or dark spots on leaves and can permanently damage plants. The sizes and colors of these spots can vary. Serratia aquatilis Serratia aquatilis is a Gram-negative and rod-shaped bacteria from
944-696: Is generalized beyond bacteria by Yamada et al. 2015's demonstration that undernourished Drosophila are heavily dependent on their fungal symbiont Issatchenkia orientalis for amino acids. Mutualisms are not static, and can be lost by evolution. Sachs and Simms (2006) suggest that this can occur via four main pathways: There are many examples of mutualism breakdown. For example, plant lineages inhabiting nutrient-rich environments have evolutionarily abandoned mycorrhizal mutualisms many times independently. Evolutionarily, headlice may have been mutualistic as they allow for early immunity to various body-louse borne disease; however, as these diseases became eradicated,
1003-564: Is greatly activated by glycolysis intermediates such as phosphoenolpyruvate , 3-phosphoglycerate, fructose-6-phosphate, and 2-phosphoglycerate. Most Serratia species are nonpathogenic, but those that are pathogenic typically cause infection in immunocompromised individuals. S. marcescens is the main pathogenic species, infecting animals and plants, but other species that have been reported to infect individuals include Serratia plymuthica, Serratia liquefaciens, Serratia rubidaea, Serratia odorifera, and Serratia fonticola . S. marcescens
1062-453: Is most effectively applied to free-living species that encounter a number of individuals of the mutualist part in the course of their existences. Wright notes that models of biological mutualism tend to be similar qualitatively, in that the featured isoclines generally have a positive decreasing slope, and by and large similar isocline diagrams. Mutualistic interactions are best visualized as positively sloped isoclines, which can be explained by
1121-416: Is the dispersal of the seeds of plants by animals. This is similar to pollination in that the plant produces food resources (for example, fleshy fruit, overabundance of seeds) for animals that disperse the seeds (service). Plants may advertise these resources using colour and a variety of other fruit characteristics, e.g., scent. Fruit of the aardvark cucumber (Cucumis humifructus) is buried so deeply that
1180-661: Is the most abundant, comprising approximately half of all strains found. S. aquatilis is a novel species of Serratia found in drinking water. The plant types with the highest Serratia prevalence are vegetables, mushrooms, mosses, grasses, and decaying plant material. Serratia has been consistently found in figs and coconuts. S. marcescens and S. ficaria are often found in Calimyrna figs. Several species related to Serratia have also been identified on Smyrna figs and its fig wasps. Only one species of Serratia , S. marinorubra , has been identified on coconuts from various regions of
1239-402: Is the relationship between sea anemones and anemone fish in the family Pomacentridae : the anemones provide the fish with protection from predators (which cannot tolerate the stings of the anemone's tentacles) and the fish defend the anemones against butterflyfish (family Chaetodontidae ), which eat anemones. However, in common with many mutualisms, there is more than one aspect to it: in
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#17328773493151298-956: Is thought to be transmitted through hand-to-hand transmission; in one hospital half of all tested personnels' hands were found to be positive for the pathogen. Serratia species tend to colonize the respiratory and urinary tracts, rather than the gastrointestinal tract . Serratia infection is responsible for about 2% of nosocomial (hospital-acquired) infections of the bloodstream, lower respiratory tract, urinary tract, surgical wounds, and skin and soft tissues and other ailments that are commonly caused by other bacteria. Outbreaks of S. marcescens meningitis , wound infections, and arthritis have occurred in pediatric wards. Outbreaks of infective endocarditis in IV drug users have been reported. Cases of Serratia arthritis have been reported in outpatients receiving intra-articular injections . There have been cases of Serratia non-human animal infections. One case of
1357-599: The Hirtella sp. tree in the same forests, but in this relationship, the tree has turned the tables on the ants. When the tree is ready to produce flowers, the ant abodes on certain branches begin to wither and shrink, forcing the occupants to flee, leaving the tree's flowers to develop free from ant attack. The term "species group" can be used to describe the manner in which individual organisms group together. In this non-taxonomic context one can refer to "same-species groups" and "mixed-species groups." While same-species groups are
1416-539: The Acacia plant. In the neotropics , the ant Myrmelachista schumanni makes its nest in special cavities in Duroia hirsute . Plants in the vicinity that belong to other species are killed with formic acid . This selective gardening can be so aggressive that small areas of the rainforest are dominated by Duroia hirsute . These peculiar patches are known by local people as " devil's gardens ". In some of these relationships,
1475-680: The Serratia . Biotyping, bacteriocin typing, phage typing, plasmid analysis, and ribotyping can also be used. Most strains of S. marcescens appear red on trypticase soy agar slants when grown at around 25 °C. S. marcescens and S. liquefaciens can be easily confused in the lab when using the analytical profile index system. They can both oxidise arabinose , but only S. liquefaciens can ferment arabinose in peptone water . The virulence of Serratia strains can also be identifiable by type 4 fimbriae, small hair-like projections. The average genome size of most Serratia species has not been documented except for that of S. marcescens , which
1534-521: The hydrolysis of phosphodiester bonds while alkaline phosphatases are involved in cell signaling processes. Serratia uses a metabolic enzyme, ADP glucose pyrophosphorylase , with distinct kinetic properties from those found in Enterobacteriaceae in that it is not greatly activated by fructose bisphosphate. ADP glucose pyrophosphorylase from strains of S. marcescens demonstrated optimal activity in buffer at pH 7.5 and 8.0, respectively. It
1593-456: The 50s, 60s, and 70s to test the pathogenicity of S. marcescens , but it was not until the 1970s that S. marcescens was confirmed as a human pathogen. S. liquefaciens is the second best characterized species after S. marcescens . S. liquefaciens was first classified as Aerobacter liquefaciens in the Enterobacter genus by Grimes and Hennerty. The first documentation of S. liquefaciens
1652-447: The anemonefish-anemone mutualism, waste ammonia from the fish feeds the symbiotic algae that are found in the anemone's tentacles. Therefore, what appears to be a service-service mutualism in fact has a service-resource component. A second example is that of the relationship between some ants in the genus Pseudomyrmex and trees in the genus Acacia , such as the whistling thorn and bullhorn acacia . The ants nest inside
1711-550: The consequences of this network structure for the stability of pollinator communities suggest that the specific way in which plant-pollinator networks are organized minimizes competition between pollinators, reduce the spread of indirect effects and thus enhance ecosystem stability and may even lead to strong indirect facilitation between pollinators when conditions are harsh. This means that pollinator species together can survive under harsh conditions. But it also means that pollinator species collapse simultaneously when conditions pass
1770-484: The cost of the ant's protection can be quite expensive. Cordia sp. trees in the Amazonian rainforest have a kind of partnership with Allomerus sp. ants, which make their nests in modified leaves. To increase the amount of living space available, the ants will destroy the tree's flower buds. The flowers die and leaves develop instead, providing the ants with more dwellings. Another type of Allomerus sp. ant lives with
1829-641: The environment and maximize the availability of nutrients. Strains producing thermostable lipase, alkaline protease and gelatinase have been isolated from strains causing contact lens-related corneal ulcers in humans. Due to its short half-life and tendency to remain bound to cells upon secretion, hemolysin has scarcely been identified in Serratia . However, some studies employing more accurate detection techniques have evidenced hemolytic activity in almost all strains of Serratia . Plant chitinases are used as defense mechanisms against plant pathogens with which Serratia shares their plant habitat. Chloroperoxidase allows
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1888-552: The expense of the other. However, mutualism may evolve from interactions that began with imbalanced benefits, such as parasitism . The term mutualism was introduced by Pierre-Joseph van Beneden in his 1876 book Animal Parasites and Messmates to mean "mutual aid among species". Mutualism is often conflated with two other types of ecological phenomena: cooperation and symbiosis . Cooperation most commonly refers to increases in fitness through within-species (intraspecific) interactions, although it has been used (especially in
1947-412: The fact that the saturation of benefits accorded to mutualism or restrictions posed by outside factors contribute to a decreasing slope. The type II functional response is visualized as the graph of b a M 1 + a T H M {\displaystyle {\cfrac {baM}{1+aT_{H}M}}} vs. M . Mutualistic networks made up out of
2006-423: The family Enterobacteriaceae . They are typically 1–5 μm in length, do not produce spores, and can be found in water, soil, plants, and animals. Some members of this genus produce a characteristic red pigment , prodigiosin , and can be distinguished from other members of the order Enterobacterales by their unique production of three enzymes: DNase ( nucA ), lipase , and gelatinase ( serralysin ). Serratia
2065-566: The function of distal organs and systems. Breakdown of the protective mucosal barrier of the gut can contribute to the development of colon cancer . Every generation of every organism needs nutrients – and similar nutrients – more than they need particular defensive characteristics, as the fitness benefit of these vary heavily especially by environment. This may be the reason that hosts are more likely to evolve to become dependent on vertically transmitted bacterial mutualists which provide nutrients than those providing defensive benefits. This pattern
2124-612: The genus of Serratia , which has been isolated from drinking-water systems. This Gammaproteobacteria -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Mutualism (biology) Mutualism describes the ecological interaction between two or more species where each species has a net benefit. Mutualism is a common type of ecological interaction. Prominent examples are: Mutualism can be contrasted with interspecific competition , in which each species experiences reduced fitness, and exploitation , and with parasitism , in which one species benefits at
2183-408: The gut population. The mucous layer of the intestine contains commensal bacteria that produce bacteriocins , modify the pH of the intestinal contents, and compete for nutrition to inhibit colonization by pathogens. The gut microbiota, containing trillions of microorganisms , possesses the metabolic capacity to produce and regulate multiple compounds that reach the circulation and act to influence
2242-627: The improvement needed to return to conditions at which the pollinator community collapsed. Humans are involved in mutualisms with other species: their gut flora is essential for efficient digestion . Infestations of head lice might have been beneficial for humans by fostering an immune response that helps to reduce the threat of body louse borne lethal diseases. Some relationships between humans and domesticated animals and plants are to different degrees mutualistic. For example, agricultural varieties of maize provide food for humans and are unable to reproduce without human intervention because
2301-415: The interaction between plants and pollinators were found to have a similar structure in very different ecosystems on different continents, consisting of entirely different species. The structure of these mutualistic networks may have large consequences for the way in which pollinator communities respond to increasingly harsh conditions and on the community carrying capacity. Mathematical models that examine
2360-400: The leafy sheath does not fall open, and the seedhead (the "corn on the cob") does not shatter to scatter the seeds naturally. In traditional agriculture , some plants have mutualist as companion plants , providing each other with shelter, soil fertility and/or natural pest control . For example, beans may grow up cornstalks as a trellis, while fixing nitrogen in the soil for the corn,
2419-538: The norm, examples of mixed-species groups abound. For example, zebra ( Equus burchelli ) and wildebeest ( Connochaetes taurinus ) can remain in association during periods of long distance migration across the Serengeti as a strategy for thwarting predators. Cercopithecus mitis and Cercopithecus ascanius , species of monkey in the Kakamega Forest of Kenya , can stay in close proximity and travel along exactly
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2478-410: The past) to refer to mutualistic interactions, and it is sometimes used to refer to mutualistic interactions that are not obligate. Symbiosis involves two species living in close physical contact over a long period of their existence and may be mutualistic, parasitic , or commensal , so symbiotic relationships are not always mutualistic, and mutualistic interactions are not always symbiotic. Despite
2537-471: The people believed that this incident was caused by the devil. A pharmacist named Bartolomeo Bizio was appointed to investigate the strange phenomenon. After several experiments, Bizzo presented his results. S. marcescens was first documented as a red-colored putrefaction of polenta by Bartolomeo Bizio in Padua. The bacterium was later named in honor of Italian physicist Serafino Serrati . In 1945, an experiment
2596-545: The plant is solely reliant upon the aardvark's keen sense of smell to detect its ripened fruit, extract, consume and then scatter its seeds; C. humifructus's geographical range is thus restricted to that of the aardvark's. Another type is ant protection of aphids , where the aphids trade sugar -rich honeydew (a by-product of their mode of feeding on plant sap ) in return for defense against predators such as ladybugs . Strict service-service interactions are very rare, for reasons that are far from clear. One example
2655-553: The plant providing carbohydrates to the fungus in return for primarily phosphate but also nitrogenous compounds. Other examples include rhizobia bacteria that fix nitrogen for leguminous plants (family Fabaceae) in return for energy-containing carbohydrates . Metabolite exchange between multiple mutualistic species of bacteria has also been observed in a process known as cross-feeding . Service-resource relationships are common. Three important types are pollination , cleaning symbiosis, and zoochory . In pollination ,
2714-466: The plant's thorns. In exchange for shelter, the ants protect acacias from attack by herbivores (which they frequently eat when those are small enough, introducing a resource component to this service-service relationship) and competition from other plants by trimming back vegetation that would shade the acacia. In addition, another service-resource component is present, as the ants regularly feed on lipid -rich food-bodies called Beltian bodies that are on
2773-500: The plants, and allow for successful fertilization of plants, demonstrating a mutualistic relationship between two seemingly-unlike species. Mutualism has also been linked to major evolutionary events, such as the evolution of the eukaryotic cell ( symbiogenesis ) and the colonization of land by plants in association with mycorrhizal fungi. Mutualistic relationships can be thought of as a form of " biological barter" in mycorrhizal associations between plant roots and fungi , with
2832-491: The relationship has become less mutualistic and more parasitic. Measuring the exact fitness benefit to the individuals in a mutualistic relationship is not always straightforward, particularly when the individuals can receive benefits from a variety of species, for example most plant- pollinator mutualisms. It is therefore common to categorise mutualisms according to the closeness of the association, using terms such as obligate and facultative . Defining "closeness", however,
2891-463: The same routes through the forest for periods of up to 12 hours. These mixed-species groups cannot be explained by the coincidence of sharing the same habitat. Rather, they are created by the active behavioural choice of at least one of the species in question. Mathematical treatments of mutualisms, like the study of mutualisms in general, have lagged behind those for predation , or predator-prey, consumer-resource, interactions. In models of mutualisms,
2950-428: The size of parameter α, species densities would increase indefinitely. Because that is not possible due to environmental constraints and carrying capacity, a model that includes saturation would be more accurate. Wright's mathematical theory is based on the premise of a simple two-species mutualism model in which the benefits of mutualism become saturated due to limits posed by handling time. Wright defines handling time as
3009-472: The terms "type I" and "type II" functional responses refer to the linear and saturating relationships, respectively, between the benefit provided to an individual of species 1 ( dependent variable ) and the density of species 2 (independent variable). One of the simplest frameworks for modeling species interactions is the Lotka–Volterra equations . In this model, the changes in population densities of
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#17328773493153068-551: The time needed to process a food item, from the initial interaction to the start of a search for new food items and assumes that processing of food and searching for food are mutually exclusive. Mutualists that display foraging behavior are exposed to the restrictions on handling time. Mutualism can be associated with symbiosis. In 1959, C. S. Holling performed his classic disc experiment that assumed that where The equation that incorporates Type II functional response and mutualism is: where or, equivalently, where This model
3127-458: The two mutualists are quantified as: where Mutualism is in essence the logistic growth equation modified for mutualistic interaction. The mutualistic interaction term represents the increase in population growth of one species as a result of the presence of greater numbers of another species. As the mutualistic interactive term β is always positive, this simple model may lead to unrealistic unbounded growth. So it may be more realistic to include
3186-500: The world, including California, France, and Brazil. Both S. marcescens and certain strains of Enterobacter were also identified in the rhizospheres of coconut palms. Serratia is found in over 70 species of healthy, dead, and diseased insects. These include crickets, grasshoppers, bees, aphids, and fruit flies. Most of them reside in insects as bacterial flora and some form mutualistic symbiotic relationships with their hosts. For example, in aphids, strains of S. symbiotica play
3245-399: Was bitten by a dog, and the dog bite turned into an abscess . This was the first infection recorded in a healthy individual. S. fonticola was first found in human specimens in 1985. It is known to cause tissue infections following trauma to the area. The first reported infection caused by S. fonticola was a leg abscess in a woman in France in 1989. In 1991, S. fonticola was the cause of
3304-521: Was designed to establish the pathogenicity of S. marcescens . Captain Tom Paine in the U.S. Army conducted an experiment at Camp Detrick, MD. In this experiment, he exposed four people to the bacteria in an enclosed space. The individuals soon developed symptoms such as body aches, malaise, green sputum production. A few of the individuals developed fever and chills while others still had a fever after 24 hours. Several other experiments were performed throughout
3363-410: Was first detected in pumpkin and squash. CYVD infects the phloem tissue in plants and causes wilting, yellowing, phloem discoloration, plant decline, and eventually death. CYVD mainly affects squash, cantaloupe, watermelon, etc. There have been studies that have shown that this disease is transmitted by insects. S. proteamaculans is the only other species known to cause harm to plants. S. proteamaculans
3422-512: Was in 1971. Over 20 isolates of S. liquefaciens were recovered from different specimens, such as urinary and respiratory. Out of the isolates, six were believed to cause infection in humans. From the 1970s to the 1980s, this species was the cause of several hospital outbreaks. However, the most well-known outbreak occurred in Colorado at a hemodialysis center. During this outbreak, there were 10 S. liquefaciens bloodstream infections. S. ficaria ,
3481-462: Was thought to be a harmless environmental bacteria until it was discovered that the most common species in the genus, S. marcescens , is an opportunistic pathogen of many animals, including humans. In humans, S. marcescens is mostly associated with nosocomial, or hospital-acquired, infections , but can also cause urinary tract infections, pneumonia, and endocarditis. S. marcescens is frequently found in showers, toilet bowls, and around wet tiles as
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