Escherichia coli

  • E. coli
  • gram-
  • facultative aerboic
  • rod-shaped
  • coliform
  • found in lower intestine of warm-blooded
  • most strains harmless
  • some cause food poison
  • part of normal microbiota
  • can produce vitamin K2
  • symbiotic relationship
  • fecal expulsion

  • 0.1% of gut microbiota

  • fecal-oral transmission
  • survive outside for limited time
  • indicator organisms
  • persistent E. coli grow outside a host

  • can be cultured easily

  • chemoheterotroph
  • most widely studied prokaryotic model
  • important in
    • biotechnology
    • microbiology
  • host organism for recombinant DNA
  • reproduces within 20 min