Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a gram-negative bacterium. Some strains are pathogenic, others do not cause disease.
Synonyms
Kolibakterium
Detailed description
On the one hand, E. coli is part of the healthy human intestinal flora. One the other hand, it can cause inflammation if translocated to other body parts. Moreover, there are pathogenic strains, which are a common cause for infectious diseases. Concerning molecular biology and genetics, this bacterium is the best researched organism. It is frequently used as a model organism in laboratories.
If an intestinal inhabitant such as the bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli) becomes resistant to many antibiotics, it can cause serious health problems if it enters the bloodstream. How can such
Antibacterial drugs are important for treating infections. However, increasing bacterial resistance to current drugs—making them ineffective or only partially effective—means that new drugs are
Professors Ivo Boneca (Institut Pasteur, Paris), Mark Brönstrup (Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, and German Center for Infection Research), and Christophe Zimmer (University of
