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Genomic-sequence comparison of two unrelated isolates of the human gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori

Nature volume 397, pages 176–180 (1999)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 25 February 1999

Abstract

Helicobacter pylori, one of the most common bacterial pathogens of humans, colonizes the gastric mucosa, where it appears to persist throughout the host's life unless the patient is treated. Colonization induces chronic gastric inflammation which can progress to a variety of diseases, ranging in severity from superficial gastritis and peptic ulcer to gastric cancer and mucosal-associated lymphoma1. Strain-specific genetic diversity has been proposed to be involved in the organism's ability to cause different diseases or even be beneficial to the infected host2,3 and to participate in the lifelong chronicity of infection4. Here we compare the complete genomic sequences of two unrelated H. pylori isolates. This is, to our knowledge, the first such genomic comparison. H. pylori was believed to exhibit a large degree of genomic and allelic diversity, but we find that the overall genomic organization, gene order and predicted proteomes (sets of proteins encoded by the genomes) of the two strains are quite similar. Between 6 to 7% of the genes are specific to each strain, with almost half of these genes being clustered in a single hypervariable region.

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Figure 1: Comparison of the two sequenced H.pylori genomes based on the chromosomal organization of strain 26695.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Dorman, M. Rubenfield, C. Butler, B. Andrews and K. MacCormack for assistance in finalizing and editing sequence information. D.E.T. is a member of the Canadian Bacterial Diseases Network and a Scientist with the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Astra Research Center Boston, 128 Sidney Street, Cambridge, 02139-4239, Massachusetts, USA

    Richard A. Alm, Benjamin L. King, Eric D. Brown, Peter C. Doig, Brian Noonan, Boudewijn L. deJonge, Peter J. Tummino, Maria Uria-Nickelsen, Cameron Ives, David Merberg, Scott D. Mills & Trevor J. Trust

  2. Genome Therapeutics Corporation, 100 Beaver Street, Waltham, 02453-8443, Massachusetts, USA

    Lo-See L. Ling, Donald T. Moir, Douglas R. Smith, Braydon C. Guild, Gilles Carmel, Anthony Caruso, Debra M. Mills, Rene Gibson & Gerald F. Vovis

  3. Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology and Canadian Bacterial Diseases Network, University of Alberta, T6G 2H7, Edmonton, Canada

    Qin Jiang & Diane E. Taylor

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Correspondence to Richard A. Alm.

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Alm, R., Ling, LS., Moir, D. et al. Genomic-sequence comparison of two unrelated isolates of the human gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori. Nature 397, 176–180 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/16495

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