E.coli, the bacteria - habitat of every human gut, has now suddenly turned to be man’s greatest enemy. This organism from time known has been a part of every scientific study. This was the first organism whose genetic data was decoded and became the basis for further genetic study. Being the easily understood organism and easily modifiable one, E. coli has been a part of the microbiological lab for understanding the genomics of many other complex microorganisms. The genetic material, DNA of the organism of interest is induced into E. coli and grown. The fast reproducing property of E. coli helps the production of the required gene or protein as desired for further study. E. coli strains have also known to cause mild illness to humans that are easily curable without or in certain cases without any medication. Nothing so far has known to be fatal. But the new strain of E. coli, has been causing an illness that may have a cure in the future, but is currently fatal.
How can an organism, that has been used as an assistance for the study for identification of many drugs, become life-threatening?
New strains of an organism are usually a mutated version of the basic known organism. If this strain of E. coli is a new strain of the organism, it just means that it either has some gene added, modified or removed from the original genomic code. And this change is leading to the production of toxin in the human body. The other note worthy fact in this outbreak is the easy spread or entry of the organism into human body. Having been a native of our body, the organism seem normal to the body’s immune system until it enters the stomach and begins to produce toxins.
Instead of trying to study this new mutant entirely, a quicker approach would be to establish a match between this version of E. coli and the possible organism that have a similar gene coding and similar symptoms. There might be a treatment in place for the other organism, which can further be studied, modified and administered as a solution to this deadly outbreak.
