The Gram-negative bacillus Serratia marcescens (S. marcescens) belongs to the Enterobacteriaceae family. S. marcescens was once thought to be a nonpathogenic saprophytic organism that appeared on decomposing organic matter, animals, plants, and foods, water, and soil. However, it has evolved into an opportunist pathogen that causes nosocomial infections, where it is linked to a variety of hospital-acquired infections, including conjunctivitis, septicemia, wound, and eye infections, pneumonia, meningitis, osteomyelitis, and endocarditis, in addition to respiratory tract and urinary tract infections (UTI). Chitinase, protease, nuclease, lipase, and hemolysin are among the products released by S. marcescens strains, and many of these compounds are probably virulence factors in human infections caused by this disease. Prodigiosin pigment is a natural red produced by S. marcescens which exhibits anticancer, and immunosuppressive properties furthermore to antimicrobial activities. This bacterium has been identified as an opportunistic pathogen that may harbor multidrug resistance mechanisms that complicate treatment, many S. marcescens strains are resistant to a wide range of antibiotics. There are two categories of S. marcescens strains: non-pigmented (white), and pigmented (red). Two stages are involved in the biosynthesis of prodigiosin. The bipyrrole moiety 4-methoxy-2,2-bipyrrole-5-carbaldehyde (MBC) and the monopyrrole moiety 2-methyl-3-n-amyl-pyrrole (MAP) are produced in the first step, which is also referred to as the cytoplasmic step. The condensation of the terminal products of the two parallel routes, MBC and MAP, to generate prodigiosin is the second step in the final biosynthetic process. The aim of this research is to study and know the use of prodigiosin in an applied and medical field and the method of extracting and purifying prodigiosin and the possibility of genetic manipulation of S. marcescens.
