Comparative study between Helicobacter pylori and host human genetics in the Dominican Republic

Takaaki Ono,Hiroyuki Nagashima,Yoshio Yamaoka,Modesto Cruz,José A Jiménez Abreu,Seiji Shiota,Celso Hosking,Phawinee Subsomwong,Rumiko Suzuki

doi:10.1186/s12862-019-1526-9

Takaaki Ono, Hiroyuki Nagashima + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-019-1526-9

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Abstract

BackgroundHelicobacter pylori, a bacterium that infects the human stomach, has high genetic diversity. Because its evolution is parallel to human, H. pylori is used as a tool to trace human migration. However, there are few studies about the relationship between phylogeography of H. pylori and its host human.MethodsWe examined both H. pylori DNA and the host mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome DNA obtained from a total 119 patients in the Dominican Republic, where human demography consists of various ancestries. DNA extracted from cultured H. pylori were analyzed by multi locus sequence typing. Mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome DNA were evaluated by haplogroup analyses.ResultsH. pylori strains were divided into 2 populations; 68 strains with African group (hpAfrica1) and 51 strains with European group (hpEurope). In Y-chromosomal haplogroup, European origin was dominant, whereas African origin was dominant both in H. pylori and in mtDNA haplogroup. These results supported the hypothesis that mother-to-child infection is predominant in H. pylori infection. The Amerindian type of mtDNA haplogroup was observed in 11.8% of the patients; however, Amerindian type (hspAmerind) of H. pylori was not observed. Although subpopulation type of most hpAfrica1 strains in Central America and South America were hybrid (hspWAfrica/hpEurope), most Dominican Republic hpAfrica1 strains were similar to those of African continent.ConclusionsGenetic features of H. pylori, mtDNA, and Y haplogroups reflect the history of colonial migration and slave trade in the Dominican Republic. Discrepancy between H. pylori and the host human genotypes support the hypothesis that adaptability of hspAmerind H. pylori strains are weaker than hpEurope strains. H. pylori strains in the Dominican Republic seem to contain larger proportion of African ancestry compared to other American continent strains.

Highlights

Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that infects the human stomach, has high genetic diversity
Genetic features of H. pylori, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), and Y haplogroups reflect the history of colonial migration and slave trade in the Dominican Republic
Discrepancy between H. pylori and the host human genotypes support the hypothesis that adaptability of hspAmerind H. pylori strains are weaker than hpEurope strains

Summary

Introduction

Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that infects the human stomach, has high genetic diversity. Since H. pylori frequently undergoes recombination among unrelated strains, its genetic diversity is higher compared with other bacteria, and is about 50 times higher than that of human [4,5,6]. This large genetic diversity of H. pylori helps us to predict host human migration across the world [7, 8]. Because vertical infection is dominant, the evolution of H. pylori is basically parallel to the host human [16]. When multiple strains of different lineage were infected in a patient, the more adaptive strain may overcome the existent strain or hybridize with each other to form a mosaic strain [18,19,20,21]

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