Sequencing a piece of history: Complete genome sequence of the original Escherichia coli strain. NCTC86

In 1885 Theodor Escherich first described Bacillus coli commune. Later this species was renamed Escherichia coli. Here we described the complete genome sequence of the strain of E. coli originally isolated by Escherich over 125 years ago. We performed genomic and phylogenetic comparisons with other E. coli strains. Consistent with Escherich’s observations, these studies revealed Escherich’s original strain is most closely related to the non-pathogenic commensal strains of E. coli and their laboratory derivatives.