East Asian genotypes of Helicobacter pylori strains in Amerindians provide evidence for its ancient human carriage.
Phylogenies of indigenous microbes have been used as surrogates for the origins of the hosts that carry them. Conversely, polymorphisms may be used to date the spread of a microbial species when information about their host populations is available. Therefore, we examined polymorphisms in Helicobacter pylori, which persistently colonize the human stomach, to test the hypothesis that they have been ancient inhabitants of humans. Three H. pylori loci that previously have been shown to have phylogeographic affinity have been analyzed for two populations with different ethnic origins from Venezuela. In a group of Amerindian subjects from Amazonia, East Asian H. pylori genotypes were present for each of the loci examined but were absent in a mestizo population from Caracas. These findings provide evidence that H. pylori has been present in humans at least since ancestors of Amerindians migrated from Asia more than 11,000 years ago.
Ghose
Chandrabali
C
Department of Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Perez-Perez
Guillermo I
GI
Dominguez-Bello
Maria-Gloria
MG
Pride
David T
DT
Bravi
Claudio M
CM
Blaser
Martin J
MJ
D017954:Africa South of the Sahara; D001118:Argentina; D001210:Asia, Southeastern; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology; D005838:Genotype; D006239:Haplotypes; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007199:Indians, South American; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D014687:Venezuela