The 5300-year-old Helicobacter pylori genome of the Iceman.

Bibliographic Collection: 
APE
Publication Type: Journal Article
Authors: Maixner, Frank; Krause-Kyora, Ben; Turaev, Dmitrij; Herbig, Alexander; Hoopmann, Michael R; Hallows, Janice L; Kusebauch, Ulrike; Vigl, Eduard Egarter; Malfertheiner, Peter; Megraud, Francis; O'Sullivan, Niall; Cipollini, Giovanna; Coia, Valentina; Samadelli, Marco; Engstrand, Lars; Linz, Bodo; Moritz, Robert L; Grimm, Rudolf; Krause, Johannes; Nebel, Almut; Moodley, Yoshan; Rattei, Thomas; Zink, Albert
Year of Publication: 2016
Journal: Science
Volume: 351
Issue: 6269
Pagination: 162-5
Date Published: 2016 Jan 8
Publication Language: eng
ISSN: 1095-9203
Keywords: Asia, Chromosome Mapping, DNA, Bacterial, Europe, Genome, Bacterial, Helicobacter Infections, Helicobacter pylori, Human Migration, Humans, Hybridization, Genetic, Ice Cover, Mummies, Phylogeny, Phylogeography, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Stomach
Abstract:

The stomach bacterium Helicobacter pylori is one of the most prevalent human pathogens. It has dispersed globally with its human host, resulting in a distinct phylogeographic pattern that can be used to reconstruct both recent and ancient human migrations. The extant European population of H. pylori is known to be a hybrid between Asian and African bacteria, but there exist different hypotheses about when and where the hybridization took place, reflecting the complex demographic history of Europeans. Here, we present a 5300-year-old H. pylori genome from a European Copper Age glacier mummy. The "Iceman" H. pylori is a nearly pure representative of the bacterial population of Asian origin that existed in Europe before hybridization, suggesting that the African population arrived in Europe within the past few thousand years.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aad2545
Alternate Journal: Science