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Escherichia

British  
/ ˌɛʃəˈrɪkɪə /

noun

  1. a genus of Gram-negative rodlike bacteria that are found in the intestines of humans and many animals, esp E. coli , which is sometimes pathogenic and is widely used in genetic research

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Escherichia

C19: named after Theodor Escherich (1857–1911), German paediatrician who first described E. coli


Example Sentences

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The microbe used by Stephen Wallace, professor of chemical biotechnology at the University of Edinburgh, was Escherichia coli, better known as E. coli.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2025

Water quality samples collected near the Camp Richardson Resort revealed elevated levels of Escherichia coli, commonly known as E. coli, according to the U.S.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2025

On the productivity side, vaccine candidate molecules are being made in basic model organisms like Escherichia coli.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2024

One of the new compounds, lolamicin, selectively targeted some "laboratory strains of gram-negative pathogens including Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Enterobacter cloacae," the researchers found.

From Science Daily ● May 29, 2024

In 1940, an experiment on the simplest of organisms—a microscopic, capsule-shaped, gut-dwelling bacterium named Escherichia coli—provided the first crucial clue to this question.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

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