Escherichia Coli Research Paper

Escherichia coli, or better known as E. Coli, is one of the most commonly studied single-cell organisms because it is easier to manipulate and it is abundant. Some E. Coli strains can be pathogenic, but most are harmless. They can help benefit digestive health by filling niches in place of more harmful microorganisms. Because it is a diverse group of related microorganisms, it can be difficult to find the boundaries defining the species. Some strains are natural while others are genetically created in labs, which can be observed in aspects of an organism (Schussler).

In ground beef you can get E. coli because they slaughter the cow and then the E. coli from there intestine gets on the ground meat and they mix the meat and then that gives it a higher risk of spreading it.(Staff Mayo Clinic) In unpasteurized milk it comes from the udder of the cow and then it gets into the milk. (Staff Mayo Clinic) In fresh food it comes from the farms that can contaminate the farm. The most vulnerable to this is lettuce and spinach. (Staff Mayo Clinic) In contaminated water there can be E. coli because it untreated and there is feces in it.(Staff Mayo Clinic) Also personal contact which means that adults can give it to their kids because they do not wash their hands after using the bathroom.(Staff Mayo Clinic) Also it passed in restaurants because cooks or people working back their do not wash their hands. E. coli causes the hemolytic-urine syndrome, which is a blood and kidney disease in children. It can also cause Uninary tract infections and bladder infections or it can lead to sepsis. There is another cause Thrombotic thrombocytopenic Purpura. This is a rare blood disease. It causes clots to form in small blood vessels throughout the body. This usually causes through the infectious parts of E. coli.

Escherichia coli are rod shaped, gram negative bacteria often found in the gut of humans and other warm-blooded mammals (Jacques & Ngo, 2004). It is transmitted primarily through faecal contaminated food and water. Most strains of E. coli are not harmful to humans, however some strains are pathogenic and can cause symptoms including diarrhoea (Unknown, 2012).

E. coli is a single chromosome (haploid). E. coli has 4600 kilobases with about 4300 coding sequences and has around 1800 known E. coli proteins. 70% of its genes are monocistronic and 6% are polycistronic, roughly having the same amount of genes on each strand [2]. E. coli is a member of normal flora that inhabits humans and other animals. E. coli is heterotrophic and usually obtains its food from the organism it is living in. E. coli is dependent on carbon; its main source of carbon is obtained from glucose. E. coli is a facultative anaerobe meaning that it can use oxygen and other electron acceptors as the final acceptor in an anabolic or catabolic pathway. The optimum temperature of E. coli is 37o C,

Escherichia coli O157:H7 causes 73,000 illnesses in the United States annually. A review of E. coli O157 outbreaks reported to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to better understand its epidemiology. E. coli O157 outbreaks revealed that in that period, 49 states reported 350 outbreaks, representing 8,598 cases, 1,493 (17%) hospitalizations, 354 (4%) hemolytic uremic syndrome cases, and 40 (0.5%) deaths. Clinical laboratories began examining more stool specimens for E. coli O157. In 1994, E. coli O157 became a nationally notifiable infection, and by 2000, reporting was mandatory in 48 states. Escherichia coli O157:H7 was first recognized as a pathogen in 1982 during an outbreak investigation of hemorrhagic colitis.

Since E.coli is found in mammals, studying this subject is important because the factors of E. Coli have risks such as food poisoning. Escherichia Coli is found everywhere! Knowing this, they studied the rapid growth measurements of E.Coli in the lab study. After studying the E. Coli, it was hypothesized that it had a logistic growth overtime. Meaning the growth rapidly grew continuously in size ending with a resting point.

E. coli is a bacterium capable of being transmitted from one person to another. To ensure that the bacteria used in this experiment were not transmitted to other places, items, or organisms, several safety protocols were followed.

Escherichia coli also for short E.coli, is a rod-shaped, gram-negative bacteria, this bacteria is usually motile and grows best at 37℃, because this is the temperature of the human body where it is normally found, because it is a bacteria that can be found in our normal flora it is a bacteria that is needed in our

The orgimsms involved in Escherichia coli 0157 is an anaerobic bacterium which is shaped like a rod and is Gram-negative. Escherichia is a foodborne pathogen which causes a variety of disease in humans worldwide. Cattle are the reservoir to the diseases. Between 1% and 50% of healthy cattle carry or shed E.coli by means of their faeces. The cattle can also contract the infection after slaughter as conmtanation can occur during slaughter or while the beef is being proceed into products suitable for human consumption. In the United states the most common way of transmission of the disease is through consuming contaminated food and water. Although it is also frequently spread from person to person impartial in communities where there is a high concentration of children such as child care services and primary schools.

Escherichia coli, or E. coli, is a common bacterium that can be found in diverse environments all over the planet, including the gastrointestinal tracts of animals and humans. Many of these strains of E. Coli are essential mechanisms in the digestive tract, while others are pathogens that can cause complications in urinary and intestinal tracts. (Payne & Sparks) In research, E. Coli is commonly used as a model organism, meaning they are widely studied by scientists for a variety of purposes due to their experimental advantages. E. Coli is comparatively simple, and there are many advantages to studying these prokaryotic cells in the fields of biochemistry and molecular biology. E. Coli has this simplicity and is relatively easy to propagate in a lab environment. Their genome has been completely sequenced and many things we know about DNA, protein synthesis, and gene linkage have been derived from studies regarding this particular organism. (Cooper)

CDCgov: Escherichia coli (E. coli) [Internet]. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; c2014-2015 [cited 2015-11-08]. Available from

A few different factors that affect bacterial growth are the availability of resources and nutrients, temperature and pH. (Act For Libraries) stated in the above paragraph, once the resources and nutrients are

Plates one and three represented our control plates for this experiment. Plate one was Amp negative and plasmid negative, therefore it was a normal E. coli strain growing on a plain nutrient broth agar plate. This plate provided us with a baseline that showed what normal E. coli looks like growing on a normal plate after being exposed to a stressful environment. Plate three was also considered another control plate because it showed how viable a plasmid negative E. coli strain could be on an Amp positive plate. We can use this plate to compare how well a plasmid positive E. coli strain will survive on an ampicillin positive plate.

E. faecium is a human pathogen that causes nosocomial bacteremia, surgical wound infection, endocarditis, and urinary tract infections. Nosocomial infections are those acquired in medical setting during treatment of a prior complaint. The normal habitat includes the gastrointestinal tract of a multitude of animals but it can also be found in the oral cavity and vaginal tract.(3) The microbe can survive for long periods of time in soil, sewage, and inside hospitals on a variety of surfaces.(6) It can grow in temperatures ranging from 10 to 45 degrees Celsius, in basic or acidic environments, and in environments which are isotonic or hypertonic.(3)

Escherichia coli are commonly found in lower intestine of warm blooded animals. Most E. coli are harmless. The bacteria can be grown easily and its genetics are relatively simple and easy to study, making it the best-studied prokaryotic organism. Certain strains of E. coli can produce toxins that can cause food poisoning when eating unwashed vegetables. (Wikipedia, 2010)