Abstract
The colonization abundance of commensal E. coli in the gastrointestinal tract of healthy laboratory mice and rats ranges from 104 to 106 CFU/g feces. Although very well characterized, the family that E. coli belongs to has a very homogeneous 16S rRNA gene sequence, making the identification from 16S rRNA sequencing difficult. This protocol provides a procedure of isolating and identifying commensal E. coli strains from a healthy laboratory mouse or rat feces. The method can be applied to isolate commensal E. coli from other laboratory rodent strains.