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Name: Tom
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Question:
I need description of Escheridia Coli(E. Coli) Pathogen. I need it's size, shape, organismic grouping (singles, pairs etc...), Gram stain reaction, nutrition, response to oxygen, life cycle.

Can't wait to get the answers. Thanks.


Replies:
This is from a college microbiology text by R.M. Atlas: Microbiology: Fundamentals and Applications. The entry is for the genus Escherichia. Straight rods, 1.1-1.5 by 2.0-6.0 microns, occurring singly or in pairs. Gram negative. Motile or nonmotile. Acetate acceptable as sole carbon source, but citrate not acceptable. Glucose and other carbohydrates are fermented with production of lactic, acetic, and formic acids. L Facultative anaerobes. Escherichia reproduce mostly asexually by binary fission, but some strains can reproduce sexually by conjugation. This process involves transfer of DNA from a donor strain to a recipient via the F (or sex) pilus.

--Brian


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