Traces of human migrations in Helicobacter pylori populations

Science. 2003 Mar 7;299(5612):1582-5. doi: 10.1126/science.1080857.

Abstract

Helicobacter pylori, a chronic gastric pathogen of human beings, can be divided into seven populations and subpopulations with distinct geographical distributions. These modern populations derive their gene pools from ancestral populations that arose in Africa, Central Asia, and East Asia. Subsequent spread can be attributed to human migratory fluxes such as the prehistoric colonization of Polynesia and the Americas, the neolithic introduction of farming to Europe, the Bantu expansion within Africa, and the slave trade.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Africa
  • Agriculture
  • Americas
  • Asia
  • Bacterial Proteins / genetics
  • Bayes Theorem
  • Emigration and Immigration*
  • Ethnicity
  • Europe
  • Genes, Bacterial
  • Genetic Variation
  • Genetics, Population*
  • Geography
  • Helicobacter Infections / microbiology*
  • Helicobacter Infections / transmission
  • Helicobacter pylori / classification
  • Helicobacter pylori / genetics*
  • Helicobacter pylori / isolation & purification
  • Humans
  • Indians, North American
  • Language
  • Polymorphism, Genetic*
  • Polynesia
  • Racial Groups
  • Recombination, Genetic
  • Social Problems
  • Software

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • VacA protein, Helicobacter pylori