Abstract

Serratia is a gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, motile bacterium. Colonies on (aerobic) nutrient agar plates are circular and have a dark red to pink. Serratia includes several species that can be a dangerous pathogenic bacterium to the vegetable crops, impacting the spinach yield. This study isolated and identified Serratia bacterium from a spinach field in Limpopo, South Africa. The molecular study was carried out in 2022 at the University of Limpopo to identify the bacterium associated with spinach from South Africa's soils using 16S rDNA marker extracted using the Chelex method. The bacterium was identified as S. marcescens. Afterward, 16S rDNA was amplified using specific primers to identify the bacterium. The Nblast analysis showed South African S. marcescens had 99% similarity with a population from South Korea (MH127785), and Brazil (MN082049). Phylogenetic analysis using maximum likelihood placed this species with those molecularly identified as S. marcescens in the same clade with highly supported (100) bootstrap values. In conclusion, this species is identified using 16S rDNA properly. However, using other DNA markers to understand S. marcescens phylogeny better is recommended.