Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life is a 2008 book by popular science writer Carl Zimmer

Carl Zimmer

Carl Zimmer is a popular science writer and blogger, especially regarding the study of evolution and parasites. He has written several books and contributes science essays to publications such as The New York Times and Discover...

. The book presents an overview of genetics research and genetic engineering by telling the story about the Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms . Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some serotypes can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls...

 (E. coli) family of bacteria.

E. coli has been a popular organism to study for researchers since its discovery in 1885. The K-12 strain of E. coli got its genome

Genome

In modern molecular biology and genetics, the genome is the entirety of an organism's hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or, for many types of virus, in RNA. The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA/RNA....

mapped in 1997.