In 1857, a young pediatrician named Theodor Escherich discovered what may very well be the most well-studied organism today. The rod-shaped bacterium named Escherichia coli, better known as E. coli, is a very common microbe residing in your gut. It’s also the workhorse of early molecular biology.
Luck likely played a role in its rise in popularity among scientists. Even under 19th-century lab conditions, where sterilization techniques were not perfect and little was known about what food bacteria need to survive, this microbe was easy to cultivate and grow quickly. It can replicate in under 20 minutes and can use a variety of carbon sources for energy.
As the first species to have its physiology thoroughly explored, E. coli has contributed fundamental knowledge to the fields of microbiology, molecular genetics and biochemistry, including how DNA replicates, how genes create proteins and how bacteria share genetic material among themselves – a huge cause of antibiotic resistance.
