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Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli
(; also known as
E. coli
) is a
Gram-negative
,
facultatively anaerobic
,
rod-shaped
bacterium
of the
genus
Escherichia
that is commonly found in the lower
intestine
of
warm-blooded
organisms (endotherms). Most
E. coli
strains
are harmless, but some
serotypes
can cause serious
food poisoning
in their hosts, and are occasionally responsible for
product recalls
due to
food contamination
. The harmless strains are part of the
normal flora
of the
gut
, and can benefit their hosts by producing
vitamin K
2
, and preventing colonization of the intestine with
pathogenic bacteria
.
E. coli
is expelled into the environment within fecal matter. The bacterium grows massively in fresh fecal matter under aerobic conditions for 3 days, but its numbers decline slowly afterwards.
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