Bacterial populations as perfect gases: genomic integrity and diversification tensions in Helicobacter pylori. Review uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Microorganisms that persist in single hosts face particular challenges. Helicobacter pylori, an obligate bacterial parasite of the human stomach, has evolved a lifestyle that features interstrain competition and intraspecies cooperation, both of which involve horizontal gene transfer. Microbial species must maintain genomic integrity, yet H. pylori has evolved a complex nonlinear system for diversification that exists in dynamic tension with the mechanisms for ensuring fidelity. Here, we review these tensions and propose that they create a dynamic pool of genetic variants that is sufficiently genetically diverse to allow H. pylori to occupy all of the potential niches in the stomach.

publication date

  • November 1, 2006

Research

keywords

  • Genetic Variation
  • Genome, Bacterial
  • Helicobacter pylori

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 33750107653

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1038/nrmicro1528

PubMed ID

  • 17041630

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 4

issue

  • 11