Application progress of multilocus-sequence typing in the adaptive evolution of Helicobacter pylori

Abstract

Helicobacter pylori(HP) is a kind of gram-negative bacillus parasitizing in human gastric mucosal tissue, which coevolved with human body. HP is one of the most genetically diverse bacterial species, which is mainly attributed to its high mutation and recombination rate. After tens of thousands of years of historical evolution, HP experienced numerous genetic polymorphisms and adaptive evolution in order to maintain a relatively stable colonization relationship with human hosts, making it became one of the species with the largest genome variation among prokaryotes. With such a long history with human beings, HP can be used as reference information for human migration in a sense. With the development of biological information technology, multilocus-sequence typing (MLST) technology plays a great role in the study of the evolution of bacterial strains. It has the characteristics of high repeatability and resolution, and the analysis results can be compared between different countries and laboratories. This paper mainly reviews the research and application progress of MLST technology in the genetic evolution of HP. Key words: Helicobacter pylori; Heredity; Review; Multilocus-sequence typing; Housekeeping genes