It is motile due to peritrichous flagellar arrangement, and very few strains are non-motile. Cells are typically rod-shaped, with 1–3 μm × 0.4–0.7 μm (micrometer) in size around 1 μm long, 0.35 μm wide, and 0.6–0.7 μm in volume. coli is gram-negative, straight, rod-shaped, non-sporing, non-acid fast, and bacilli that exist in single and pairs. For 2–3 days, the bacterium multiplies rapidly in fresh feces under aerobic circumstances, but its numbers gradually fall after that. It can live for long periods of time in feces, soil, and water, and is frequently used as a water contamination indicator organism. In the domains of biotechnology and microbiology, it is the most widely studied prokaryotic model organism. coli is a gram-negative, non-sporulating, rod-shaped, facultative anaerobic, and coliform bacterium pertaining to the genus Escherichia that commonly inhabits the environment, foods, and warm-blooded animals' lower gut.
The bacteria Escherichia coli was discovered by German pediatrician Theodor Escherich (1857–1911), who isolated it from babies' feces in 1885.
