title: Heterogeneity of Helicobacter pylori cag genotypes in experimentally infected mice.
abstract: Our aim was to assess whether the Helicobacter pylori population recovered from experimentally infected mice show heterogeneity in cag genotypes. Wild-type FVB/N mice were challenged with strain Hp1 and sacrificed 8 weeks later. Direct PCR on gastric tissue was performed using primers for glmM and cagA, and for these two genes and for cagE and virB11 using DNA from the infecting and the emerging strains. The gastric tissues of two of five mice were PCR+ for glmM but not cagA. For the infecting strain, the PCRs for all four genes studied were strongly positive, but the sweeps from the emerging strains from both mice gave weaker signals for cagA and cagE. Examination of single colonies showed reduced or absent signals for cagA and cagE in relation to glmM and virB11. Serial dilution PCR of sweep isolates from the mice showed a 10- to 100-fold decrease in cagA signal compared to the infecting strain. The decrease of cagA and cagE, but not virB11, amplification and lack of cagA hybridization in Southern blots indicates a selective loss of the right half of the cag island during murine infection. This phenomenon is consistent with host-induced adaptive changes of cag genotype in the population of colonizing H. pylori cells.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology and Digestive Endoscopy, CRO, Via Pedemontana Occidentale 12, 33081 Aviano, Italy. msozzi@cro.it
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sozzi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Crosatti
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Romero
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Blaser
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005838:Genotype; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D010733:Phosphoglucomutase / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C103937:PicB protein, Helicobacter pylori; C080866:cagA protein, Helicobacter pylori; C097631:phosphoglucosamine mutase; D010733:Phosphoglucomutase