Assignment I Describe Escherichia coli and it is used in microbial physiology?

a) Characteristics of Escherichia coli:-

Escherichia coli is a gram-negative, from the enteric bacteria which comprise a relatively homogenous phylogenetic group within the gamma Proteobacteria. General characteristic of Gram-Negative bacteria are straight rod, motile by peritrichous flagella or non-motile, nonsporulating, facultative aerobes, producing acid from glucose, sodium neither required or stimulatory, catalase-positive, oxidase-negative, usually reduce nitrate to nitrite and 16S rRNA of gamma Proteobacteria. The E.coli genome is about 1mm long (4.3x10-15g). In exponentially growing cells, the DNA comprises 3-4% of cellular dry mass or about 12-15x10-15g per cell. E.coli prefers a neutral pH environment and is classified as neutralophilic, the optimal ph range for its maximum activity. Under aerobic conditions oxygen will serve that function but under anaerobic conditions E.coli has a menu of alternate electron acceptors from which it can choose depending on availability. E.coli can reproduce in a minimal glucose medium once every 40 min. The total weight of an average cell 9.5x10-13g with water (at 70% of the cell) contributing 6.7x10-13g. The total dry weight is thus 2.8x10-13g. The component that form the dry weight include protein (55%), ribosomal RNA (16.7%), tRNA (3%), mRNA (0.8%), DNA (3.1%), lipid (9.1%), lipopolysaccharide (3.4%), peptidoglycan (2.5%), building block metabolites, vitamin (2.9%) and inorganic ions (1.0%). Perisplasmic space forms a full 30% of the cell volume with total cell volume being approximately 9x10-13mL. One teaspoon of packed E.coli weighs approximately 1g (wet weight). Its chromosome contain 18,700 ribosomes and a little over 2 million total molecules of protein of which there are between 1000-2000 different varieties. Members of the genus Escherichia are almost universal inhabitants of the intestinal tract of humans and warm-blooded bacteria, although they are by no means the dominant organisms in these habitats. E.coli may play a nutritional role in the intestinal tract by synthesizing vitamins, particularly vitamin K. As facultative aerobe, this organism probably also helps consume oxygen , thus rendering the large intestine anoxic. Wild-type E.coli strains rarely show any growth-factor requirements and are able to grow on a wide variety of carbon ad energy sources such as sugars, amino acids and organic acids. Some strains of Ecoli are pathogenic , causing diarrhea. It also can cause urinary tract infection in those whose resistance has been lowered by surgical treatment or by exposure to ionizing radiation. b) Why E.coli used in microbial physiology?
1- Its genetic element easily to manipulated 2- Is a simple bacteria model and are among the best understood microorganisms

3- Easily to grow in the laboratory by using appropriate culturing media and under ideal

conditions, E. coli cells can double in number after only 20 minutes allowing many generation to be studied in a short time.
4- Has small amounts of circular extrachromosomal DNA called plasmids containing genes

that confer special properties on the cell. Plasmid serve as the vector for the cloning studies 5- Its genome is a single circular chromosome of 4.68 million base pairs of DNA and containing 4300 genes compare than other bacterials genome which have nearly three times more than this. 6- Due to the medical importance 7- Has specific DNA destruction 8- Have high replicative rate 9- Can grow on wide variety of media at 370C in laboratory 10- Can survive and grow in the presence and absence of oxygen which make it useful for the experimental model
11- Large number of E. coli bacteria can be grown in a small space such as in a drop of broth,

million of E.coli can be grown. This usually involve in selecting a single bacterial cell from among millions of candidates, then allowing it to reproduce into high numbers again to perform additional experiments.
12- E.coli is a primary resources in many modern laboratory as a tool to facilitate especially in

understanding the microbial physiology, cloning and gene expression. 13- Cloning and expressing gene using E.coli is simple and effective
14- The ways in which E. coli interacts with the human body are in many cases very similar to

the ways that other disease-causing organisms act. Therefore, this model organism has been important in the study of human health and can facilitate to understand its microbial physiology.
15- Research strains of E.coli are safe to work with in the laboratory

16- Is a versatile host for the recombinant gene and production of heterologous protein such as producing insulin 17- First organisms to have its genome sequenced (genome of E.coli K12) References
1) Madigan, M. T., & Martinko, J. M. (2006). Biology of Microorganism (Eleventh ed.):

Pearson Prentice Hall.

2) Moat, A. G., & Foster, J. W. (1995). Microbial Physiology (Third ed.): Wiley Liss.

(Madigan & Martinko, 2006; Moat & Foster, 1995)

Madigan, M. T., & Martinko, J. M. (2006). Biology of Microorganism (Eleventh ed.): Pearson Prentice Hall. Moat, A. G., & Foster, J. W. (1995). Microbial Physiology (Third ed.): Wiley Liss.