Helicobacter pylori salvages purines from extracellular host cell DNA utilizing the outer membrane-associated nuclease NucT.

ABSTRACT: Helicobacter pylori is a bacterial pathogen that establishes life-long infections in humans, and its presence in the gastric epithelium is strongly associated with gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, and gastric cancer. Having evolved in this specific gastric niche for hundreds of thousands of years, this microbe has become dependent on its human host. Bioinformatic analysis reveals that H. pylori has lost several genes involved in the de novo synthesis of purine nucleotides, and without this pathway present, H. pylori must salvage purines from its environment in order to grow. While the presence and abundance of free purines in various mammalian tissues has been loosely quantified, the concentration of purines present within the gastric mucosa remains unknown. There is evidence, however, tha

SUBMITTER: Liechti GW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3807466 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature