Role of amoebae for survival and recovery of 'non-culturable' Helicobacter pylori cells in aquatic environments.

ABSTRACT: Helicobacter pylori is a fastidious Gram-negative bacterium that infects over half of the world's population, causing chronic gastritis and is a risk factor for stomach cancer. In developing and rural regions where prevalence rate exceeds 60%, persistence and waterborne transmission are often linked to poor sanitation conditions. Here we demonstrate that H. pylori not only survives but also replicates within acidified free-living amoebal phagosomes. Bacterial counts of the clinical isolate H. pylori G27 increased over 50-fold after three days in co-culture with amoebae. In contrast, a H. pylori mutant deficient in a cagPAI gene (cagE) showed little growth within amoebae, demonstrating the likely importance of a type IV secretion system in H. pylori for amoebal infection. We also demonstrat

SUBMITTER: Dey R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7494403 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature