title: The peopling of the Pacific from a bacterial perspective.
abstract: Two prehistoric migrations peopled the Pacific. One reached New Guinea and Australia, and a second, more recent, migration extended through Melanesia and from there to the Polynesian islands. These migrations were accompanied by two distinct populations of the specific human pathogen Helicobacter pylori, called hpSahul and hspMaori, respectively. hpSahul split from Asian populations of H. pylori 31,000 to 37,000 years ago, in concordance with archaeological history. The hpSahul populations in New Guinea and Australia have diverged sufficiently to indicate that they have remained isolated for the past 23,000 to 32,000 years. The second human expansion from Taiwan 5000 years ago dispersed one of several subgroups of the Austronesian language family along with one of several hspMaori clades into Melanesia and Polynesia, where both language and parasite have continued to diverge.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Infektionsbiologie, Department of Molecular Biology, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Yoshan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Moodley
authors.forename: Bodo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Linz
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamaoka
authors.forename: Helen M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Windsor
authors.forename: Sebastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Breurec
authors.forename: Jeng-Yih
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Ayas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maady
authors.forename: Steffie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bernhöft
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Thiberge
authors.forename: Suparat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Phuanukoonnon
authors.forename: Gangolf
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jobb
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Siba
authors.forename: David Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.forename: Barry J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Achtman
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000266:history; D006239:Haplotypes; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008542:Melanesia; D010139:Pacific Islands; D010802:Phylogeny; D011114:Polynesia; D011157:Population Dynamics; D013270:Stomach / Q000382:microbiology*; D013624:Taiwan