title: A mutation burst during the acute phase of Helicobacter pylori infection in humans and rhesus macaques.
abstract: The evolution rate and genetic changes that occur during chronic infection with Helicobacter pylori have been analysed, but little is known about the genomic changes during the initial, acute bacterial infection phase. Here we analyse the rate and pattern of genome evolution in H. pylori from the genomes of two input strains isolated from human volunteers with asymptomatic infection, and the genomes of two output strains collected 20 and 44 days after re-infection. Similarly, we analyse genome evolution in bacteria from the genome sequences of input and output strains sequentially taken after experimental infection of a rhesus macaque. The estimated mutation rate reveals a mutation burst during the acute infection phase that is over 10 times faster than the mutation rate during chronic infection, and orders of magnitude faster than mutation rates in any other bacteria. The elevated frequency of mutations in outer membrane protein genes suggests that the mutation burst facilitates rapid host adaptation of the bacteria.
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA [2] Center for Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Bodo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Linz
authors.affiliation: School of Pathology, M504 University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Helen M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Windsor
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA [2] Center for Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: McGraw
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology, Center for Comparative Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Lori M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA [2] Center for Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Gajewski
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA [2] Center for Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Lynn P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Tomsho
authors.affiliation: Center for Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Caylie M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Hake
authors.affiliation: 1] Departments of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology, Center for Comparative Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA [2] California National Primate Research Center, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Jay V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Solnick
authors.affiliation: 1] Center for Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA [2] Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore.
authors.forename: Stephan C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.affiliation: 1] Center for Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA [2] School of Pathology, M504 University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Barry J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Marshall
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005260:Female; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D059645:Mutation Rate