Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium. They are mainly live in endotherms. Most E. coli strains are harmless such as food poisoning in humans. The harmless strains of the normal flora of the gut can produce vitamin K2 and prevent the establishment of pathogenic bacteria within the intestine their for the benefit of their host.
E. coli are able to survive outside the body for a limited amount of time, which makes them ideal indicator organisms to test environmental samples for fecal contamination. The bacterium can also be grown easily and inexpensively in a laboratory setting, and has been intensively investigated for over 60 years. E. coli is the most widely studied prokaryotic model organism, and an important species in the fields of biotechnology and microbiology, where it has served as the host organism for the majority of work with recombinant DNA.*
*directly taken from wikipedia
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