In article <3scfk5$f80 at grape.epix.net> mikeyac at epix.net (Michael Yacuboski) writes:
>I am interested in learning how to identify different strains of E coli,
>such as K-12, K1, or B21.
There's a small conceptual problem here. A strain of microorganism refers
to a single isolate and its progeny. Thus, you can only find strain K-12
by ordering it (for instance) from ATCC. Something you isolate from an
environmental sample may be similar to K-12, but it will not be K-12. You
may be thinking instead of serotypes (such as 0157:H7), which may be
determined by their antigenicity, or classifications such as
enteropathogenic, which are determined according to pathogenicity. There
may be other characteristics that correlate with serotype or pathogenicity
(someone else would have to answer this question for you).
dave boone
*****************************************************************************
David R. Boone | "Many scientists classify bacteria. Which
Prof. of Environ. Microbiology | means that it is only for them to know, and
Oregon Graduate Institute | they won't tell other people about it."
503-690-1146, fax 503-690-1273 | --from a 4th-grade science project
boone at ese.ogi.edu; http://www.ese.ogi.edu/ese_docs/boone.html
*****************************************************************************
