title: Novel 180- and 480-base-pair insertions in African and African-American strains of Helicobacter pylori.
abstract: Helicobacter pylori is a genetically diverse bacterial species that chronically infects human stomachs and sometimes causes severe gastroduodenal disease. Studies of polymorphic DNA sequences can suggest geographic origins of individual strains. Here, we describe a 180-bp insertion (ins180), which is just after the translation stop of a gene of unknown function, near the promoter of jhp0152-jhp0151 two-component signal transduction genes in strain J99, and absent from this site in strain 26695. This ins180 insertion was found in 9 of 9 Gambian (West African), 9 of 20 (45%) South African, and 9 of 40 (23%) Spanish strains but in only 2 of 20 (10%) North American strains and none of 20 Lithuanian, 20 Indian, and 20 Japanese strains. Four South African isolates that lacked ins180 and that belonged to an unusual outlier group contained a 480-bp insertion at this site (ins480), whereas none of 181 other strains screened contained ins480. In further tests 56% (10 of 18) of strains from African Americans but only 17% (3 of 18) of strains from Caucasian Americans carried ins180 (P < 0.05). Thus, the H. pylori strains of modern African Americans seem to retain traces of African roots, despite the multiple generations since their ancestors were taken from West Africa. Fragmentary ins180-like sequences were found at numerous sites in H. pylori genomes, always between genes. Such sequences might affect regulation of transcription and could facilitate genome rearrangement by homologous recombination. Apparent differences between African-American and Caucasian-American H. pylori gene pools may bear on our understanding of H. pylori transmission and disease outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, The College of William and Mary, 214 Millington Hall, Landrum Drive, Williamsburg, VA 23187, USA.
authors.forename: Shannon L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: McNulty
authors.forename: Beth M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Mole
authors.forename: Daiva
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dailidiene
authors.forename: Issy
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Segal
authors.forename: Reid
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ally
authors.forename: Rajesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mistry
authors.forename: Ousman
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Secka
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Adegbola
authors.forename: Julian E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Erik M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Lenarcic
authors.forename: Richard M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Peek
authors.forename: Douglas E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Berg
authors.forename: Mark H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Forsyth
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D020029:Base Pairing / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D044383:Black People; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D005714:Gambia; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008097:Lithuania; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013019:South Africa; D044465:White People
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements