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| Helicobacter pylori |
About 40 percent of Germans are chronically infected with Helicobacter pylori. The bacterium can cause stomach ulcers, among other things and is responsible for most stomach cancers. It is characterized by great genetic diversity, so that almost everyone infected with "his" individual Helicobacter strain. Scientists from the Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hospital Epidemiology, Medical University of Hannover (MHH) have explored how the complete change of genetic material (genome) of the bacteria during infection and to the people adapts. The results of the research published online in the current issue of the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS).
The work led to the MHH, the doctoral Lynn Kennemann and Stefanie Kuhn and Professor Dr. Christine Josenhans and Professor Dr. Sebastian Suerbaum by - in collaboration with the team of Professor Dr. Thomas Meyer of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin , and other partners from Germany, England and the USA.
starting point for the analysis were pairs of closely related H. pylori bacteria, which were isolated at different times from the same chronically infected patients - For example, every three or in two cases, even 16 years. Comparisons of genome sequences of such pairs bacteria allowed a deep insight into the molecular evolution of bacteria during chronic infection of a single carrier. The researchers used for the new "454 data" with which they could determine the genetic material of bacteria is much faster and cheaper than before. So they could compare genomes of twelve H. pylori strains. The bacterial genome is subject during the course of infection a very rapid process of change. He is particularly fast when hit in a stomach several H. pylori strains and exchange parts of their genetic material. Thus, large parts of the genomes in the course mix a few years, making the strains genetically extremely variable.
"We can now speed the evolution of different functional groups of genes to compare," says Professor Suerbaum. Particularly quickly to changing the genes that ensure that the bacterial cell such as a leech can hold on to the stomach lining. The results are important among others for vaccine research, because the rapid evolution of bacteria in the stomach also helps the pathogens to evade the immune system.
The work led to the MHH, the doctoral Lynn Kennemann and Stefanie Kuhn and Professor Dr. Christine Josenhans and Professor Dr. Sebastian Suerbaum by - in collaboration with the team of Professor Dr. Thomas Meyer of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin , and other partners from Germany, England and the USA.
starting point for the analysis were pairs of closely related H. pylori bacteria, which were isolated at different times from the same chronically infected patients - For example, every three or in two cases, even 16 years. Comparisons of genome sequences of such pairs bacteria allowed a deep insight into the molecular evolution of bacteria during chronic infection of a single carrier. The researchers used for the new "454 data" with which they could determine the genetic material of bacteria is much faster and cheaper than before. So they could compare genomes of twelve H. pylori strains. The bacterial genome is subject during the course of infection a very rapid process of change. He is particularly fast when hit in a stomach several H. pylori strains and exchange parts of their genetic material. Thus, large parts of the genomes in the course mix a few years, making the strains genetically extremely variable.
"We can now speed the evolution of different functional groups of genes to compare," says Professor Suerbaum. Particularly quickly to changing the genes that ensure that the bacterial cell such as a leech can hold on to the stomach lining. The results are important among others for vaccine research, because the rapid evolution of bacteria in the stomach also helps the pathogens to evade the immune system.
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