ABSTRACT

Proteus is a genus of gram-negative dimorphic bacteria. These bacteria are motile, nonsporulating, and facultative anaerobic. The genus was first described by the German microbiologist Gustav Houser in 1885. The name Proteus was inspired by Homer's “Odyssey” for his character named Proteus, who had the ability to change his shape and to undergo an endless transformation. These microorganisms are distinguishable, having the ability to switch short swimmer cells in broth into long, polynuclear and hyperflagellated swarmer cells on agar. These give them the ability to swarm on solid surfaces. Swarming appears macroscopically as concentric rings of growth from a single colony or inoculum. This process involves cellular elongation and increases flagellin synthesis [1]. Houser described two species: Proteus vulgaris and Proteus mirabilis [2]. Members of the genus Proteus are widely distributed in nature, many being human pathogens, with P. mirabilis the most studied in the past decades.