Ozone Sensitivity and Catalase Activity in Pigmented and Non-Pigmented Strains of Serratia Marcescens

BACKGROUND: Ozone exposure rapidly leads to bacterial death, making ozone an effective disinfectant in food industry and health care arena. However, microbial defenses may moderate this effect and play a role in the effective use of oxidizing agents for disinfection. Serratia marcescens is an opportunistic pathogen, expressing genes differentially during infection of a human host. A better understanding of regulatory systems that control expression of Serratia’s virulence genes and defenses is therefore valuable. OBJECTIVE: Here, we investigated the role of pigmentation and catalase in Serratia marcescens on survival to ozone exposure. METHOD: Pigmented and non-pigmented strains of Serratia marcescens were cultured to exponential or stationary phase and exposed to 5 ppm of gaseous ozone for 2.5 – 10 minutes. Survival was calculated via plate counts. Catalase activity was measured photometrically and tolerance to hydrogen peroxide was assayed by disk-diffusion. RESULTS: Exposure of S. marcescens to 5 ppm gaseous ozone kills > 90% of cells within 10 minutes in a time and concentration-dependent manner. Although pigmented Serratia (grown at 28°C) survived ozonation better than unpigmented Serratia (grown at 35°C), non-pigmented mutant strains of Serratia had similar ozone survival rates, catalase activity and H(2)O(2) tolerance as wild type strains. Rather, ozone survival and catalase activity were elevated in 6 hour cultures compared to 48 hour cultures. CONCLUSION: Our studies did not bear out a role for prodigiosin in ozone survival. Rather, induction of oxidative stress responses during exponential growth increased both catalase activity and ozone survival in both pigmented and unpigmented S. marcescens.