E. coli
A gram negative, rod shaped bacterium that is mostly harmless, but some strains can cause serious illness[1]. Commonly used in genetic engineering to mass produce proteins by inserting recombinant plasmids (e.g. to produce insulin). It is also used as a model organism because it can be easily manipulated, has a short generation time and its genome has been sequenced. Urinary tract infections and especially E. coli intestinal infection can be cause by making contact with feces and stool of humans and animals[2].
See Escherichia coli for more details.
References
- ↑ http://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/general/index.html
- ↑ Cold F, Health E, Disease H, Management P, Conditions S, Problems S et al. E. Coli Infection From Food or Water-Topic Overview [Internet]. WebMD. 2016 [cited 5 December 2016]. Available from: http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/tc/e-coli-infection-topic-overview#1