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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Recent Acquisition of Helicobacter pylori by Baka Pygmies
PLoS Genetics, Volume 9, No. 9, Article e1003775, Year 2013
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Description
Both anatomically modern humans and the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori originated in Africa, and both species have been associated for at least 100,000 years. Seven geographically distinct H. pylori populations exist, three of which are indigenous to Africa: hpAfrica1, hpAfrica2, and hpNEAfrica. The oldest and most divergent population, hpAfrica2, evolved within San hunter-gatherers, who represent one of the deepest branches of the human population tree. Anticipating the presence of ancient H. pylori lineages within all hunter-gatherer populations, we investigated the prevalence and population structure of H. pylori within Baka Pygmies in Cameroon. Gastric biopsies were obtained by esophagogastroduodenoscopy from 77 Baka from two geographically separated populations, and from 101 non-Baka individuals from neighboring agriculturalist populations, and subsequently cultured for H. pylori. Unexpectedly, Baka Pygmies showed a significantly lower H. pylori infection rate (20.8%) than non-Baka (80.2%). We generated multilocus haplotypes for each H. pylori isolate by DNA sequencing, but were not able to identify Baka-specific lineages, and most isolates in our sample were assigned to hpNEAfrica or hpAfrica1. The population hpNEAfrica, a marker for the expansion of the Nilo-Saharan language family, was divided into East African and Central West African subpopulations. Similarly, a new hpAfrica1 subpopulation, identified mainly among Cameroonians, supports eastern and western expansions of Bantu languages. An age-structured transmission model shows that the low H. pylori prevalence among Baka Pygmies is achievable within the timeframe of a few hundred years and suggests that demographic factors such as small population size and unusually low life expectancy can lead to the eradication of H. pylori from individual human populations. The Baka were thus either H. pylori-free or lost their ancient lineages during past demographic fluctuations. Using coalescent simulations and phylogenetic inference, we show that Baka almost certainly acquired their extant H. pylori through secondary contact with their agriculturalist neighbors. © 2013 Nell et al.
Available Materials
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3777998/bin/pgen.1003775.s001.tif
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3777998/bin/pgen.1003775.s002.pdf
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3777998/bin/pgen.1003775.s003.pdf
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3777998/bin/pgen.1003775.s004.doc
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3777998/bin/pgen.1003775.s005.doc
Authors & Co-Authors
Nell, Sandra
Germany, Hannover
Hannover Medical School
Eibach, Daniel
Germany, Hannover
Hannover Medical School
Montano, Valeria
Austria, Vienna
Veterinarmedizinische Universitat Wien
Maady, Ayas
Russian Federation
Republic Hospital No. 1
Russian Federation, Moscow
Pirogov National Medical and Surgical Center
Nkwescheu, Armand Séraphin
Cameroon, Yaounde
Ministry of Public Health Cameroon
Siri, José
Austria, Laxenburg
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg
Elamin, Wael
Germany, Hannover
Hannover Medical School
Sudan, Khartoum
El-razi College Dentistry
Falush, Daniel
United Kingdom, Oxford
University of Oxford
Linz, Bodo
Germany, Berlin
Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology
United States, University Park
Pennsylvania State University
Achtman, Mark
Germany, Berlin
Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology
Ireland, Cork
University College Cork
United Kingdom, Coventry
Warwick Medical School
Moodley, Yoshan
Austria, Vienna
Veterinarmedizinische Universitat Wien
Germany, Berlin
Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology
Suerbaum, Sebastian
Germany, Hannover
Hannover Medical School
Statistics
Citations: 34
Authors: 12
Affiliations: 12
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1371/journal.pgen.1003775
e-ISSN:
15537404
Research Areas
Genetics And Genomics
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Locations
Cameroon