| Description: |
Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative straight rod, which either uses peritrichous flagella for mobility or is nonmotile. It is a facultatively anaerobic chemoorganotroph capable of both respiratory and fermentative metabolism. E.coli serves a useful function in the body by suppressing the growth of harmful bacterial species and by synthesising appreciable amounts of vitamins. It is an important component of the biosphere. It colonizes the lower gut of animals and survives when released to the natural environment, allowing widespread dissemination to new hosts. Pathogenic E.coli strains are responsible for infection of the enteric, urinary, pulmonary and nervous systems.
E.coli HS is a human commensal isolate that was originally isolated from a laboratory scientist at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. In human challenge experiments, strain HS colonized the human gastrointestinal tract with no overt signs of disease. The genome sequence of strain HS represents the genomic baseline for colonization of the human gastrointestinal tract. This isolate is serotype O9, motile, competent and amenable to genetic manipulation. |
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