E.coli Genome Microarray

MWG-Biotech has launched the Pan E.coli Array. All 4.289 genes of the bacterium are represented on the array using MWG-Biotech's 1 gene/1 oligo method, where each bioinformatically designed HPSF oligonucleotide is 100% gene specific and thus guaranteed to identify the gene it was produced for. The organism used for MWG-Biotech's Pan E.coli Array is the strain K12, a non-pathogenic standard research organism. MWG-Biotech will soon introduce a modified version of the Pan E.coli Array to study pathogenic (disease-causing) effects of micro-organisms in detail. For this a combination of genes of E.coli K12 with about 1.200 additional genes of the pathogenic haemorrhagic (causing intestinal bleeding) E.coli strain 0157:H7 will be used. E.coli 0157:H7 has recently received public attention in food poisoning cases involving raw meat and apple juice.

E.coli is the model organism of choice for all prokaryotic (bacteria-related) basic research to understand gene function and regulation in order to identify disease mechanisms, drug targets or other relevant gene products of biotechnological importance.