Advantages of using E. coli as a Model Organism

• Short generation time compared to other higher organisms.
• E. coli can reproduce and grow very rapidly, doubling the population about every 20 minutes. It could be helpful to experiment which waiting for subsequent generations are considered the rate-limiting step.
• E. coli can survive in variable growth conditions. Culture media containing simple and inexpensive ingredients and nutrients that can successfully stimulate E. coli growth and division.
• E. coli is a single-celled organism. Unlike models of multicellular organisms like mice or chimps, there are no ethical issues with growing, manipulating, and killing bacterial cells.

Learn more: anti e. coli antibody