Date of Award

2000

Degree Name

Biology

College

College of Science

Type of Degree

M.S.

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Ron Gain

Second Advisor

Terry Fenger

Abstract

Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative, oxidase-negative, lactose fermenting rod belonging to the family Enterohacleriaceae. The enteric bacteria are common inhabitants of animal and human guts, but are not considered to be native to the environment. The presence of E. coli and similar enteric bacteria (coliforms) in surface water or groundwater implies the presence of fecal contamination from human or animal sources. E. coli has been used as an indicator of sewage-contaminated water since the 1930's and some strains are also causative agents of food or waterborne disease (Francy et al., 1993). The severity of disease can vary markedly depending on the infecting strain. Ingestion of toxigenic strains of E. coli can cause mild, non-bloody diarrhea, acute watery diarrhea, gastroenteritis and even death (Kam1ali, 1989; and Kramer et al., 1996). In order to keep E. coli out of municipal water reservoirs and recreational water, E. coli strains must be traced from the environment back to their source. This requires being able to reliably differentiate between strains within a single species. The research described herein compares EMB agar. Rainbow agar. and Biology TM' 16S rDNA amplicon restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and whole chromosome RFLP patterns in order to establish which method best discriminates between coliform isolates.

Subject(s)

Enterobacteriaceae.

Water -- Microbiology.

Bacterial pollution of water -- Testing.

Water -- Pollution -- Research.

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