An African origin for the intimate association between humans and Helicobacter pylori
Författare
Summary, in English
Infection of the stomach by Helicobacter pylori is ubiquitous among humans. However, although H. pylori strains from different geographic areas are associated with clear phylogeographic differentiation(1-4), the age of an association between these bacteria with humans remains highly controversial(5,6). Here we show, using sequences from a large data set of bacterial strains that, as in humans, genetic diversity in H. pylori decreases with geographic distance from east Africa, the cradle of modern humans. We also observe similar clines of genetic isolation by distance (IBD) for both H. pylori and its human host at a worldwide scale. Like humans, simulations indicate that H. pylori seems to have spread from east Africa around 58,000 yr ago. Even at more restricted geographic scales, where IBD tends to become blurred, principal component clines in H. pylori from Europe strongly resemble the classical clines for Europeans described by Cavalli-Sforza and colleagues(7). Taken together, our results establish that anatomically modern humans were already infected by H. pylori before their migrations from Africa and demonstrate that H. pylori has remained intimately associated with their human host populations ever since.
Avdelning/ar
Publiceringsår
2007
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
915-918
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Nature
Volym
445
Issue
7130
Länkar
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
Nature Publishing Group
Ämne
- Microbiology in the medical area
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 0028-0836