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Name: Bala
Status: Student
Grade:  9-12
Location: IN
Country: United States
Date: June 2006
Question:
What is the difference between genome and plasmid of E.coli.? Is the DNA in plasmid be considered as a part of genome?


Replies:
They are both part of the whole genome of the bacteria. Since scientists have genome databases just for plasmids, there is some sense in considering the plasmid genome separate from the single bacterial chromosome. The whole genome being ALL the DNA sequences of the bacteria.

PF


The genome of *E. coli* is a single,circular DNA molecule comprised of about 4 million base pairs encoding approximately 3,000 genes. Typical bacterial plasmids are circular DNA molecules containing around 50,000 base pairs. Since some strains of bacteria do not contain plasmids, they are not a an essential part of the genome.

Ron Baker, Ph.D.


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