Open AccessPathogen Evolution In Vivo: Genome Dynamics of Two Isolates Obtained 9 Years Apart from a Duodenal Ulcer Patient Infected with a Single Helicobacter pylori Strain
Author(s) -
Valérie ProuzetMauleon,
M. Abid Hussain,
H Lamouliatte,
Farhana Kauser,
Françis Mégraud,
Niyaz Ahmed
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of clinical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.349
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1070-633X
pISSN - 0095-1137
DOI - 10.1128/jcm.43.8.4237-4241.2005
Subject(s) - helicobacter pylori , biology , virulence , microevolution , caga , pathogenicity island , microbiology and biotechnology , pathogen , genetics , strain (injury) , genome , allele , horizontal gene transfer , gene , population , medicine , environmental health , anatomy
The survival and microevolution ofHelicobacter pylori strains in the niches of the stomach after eradication therapy have largely been unexplored. We analyzed genomic signatures for two successive isolates obtained 9 years apart from a duodenal ulcer patient who underwent eradication therapy forH. pylori . These isolates were genotyped based on 50 different parameters involving three different fingerprinting approaches and several evolutionarily significant and virulence-associated landmarks in the genome, including nine informative gene loci, thecag pathogenicity island and its right junction, members of the plasticity region cluster, andvacA andiceA alleles. Our observations reveal that the two isolates were derived from the same strain that colonized the patient for almost a decade and were almost identical. Microevolution, however, was observed in thecagA gene and its right junction, thevacA m1 allele, and a member of the plasticity region cluster (JHP926). These results suggest thatH. pylori has a great ability to survive and reemerge as a microevolved strain posteradication, thereby hinting at the requirement for follow-up of patients after therapy.