Total population size in the wild

Value 1E+20 cells
Organism Bacteria Escherichia coli
Reference Tenaillon O, Skurnik D, Picard B, Denamur E. The population genetics of commensal Escherichia coli. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2010 Mar8(3):207-17. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro2298 p.207 left column top paragraphPubMed ID20157339
Primary Source [2] Whitman WB, Coleman DC, Wiebe WJ. Prokaryotes: the unseen majority. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998 Jun 9 95(12):6578-83 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.95.12.6578PubMed ID9618454
Comments P.207 left column top paragraph: "Escherichia coli is one of the best characterized model organisms. The reference strain Escherichia coli K-12 and its derivatives have been key in the advancement of genetics, molecular biology, physiology and biochemistry. However, E. coli is not a single clone growing in laboratories (ref 1). In the wild its total population size has been estimated to be 10^20 (primary source), and it has the interesting characteristic of being both a widespread gut commensal of vertebrates and a versatile pathogen, thought to kill more than 2 million humans per year through both intraintestinal and extraintestinal diseases [refs 3,4]."
Entered by Uri M
ID 116909