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Comment
. 2022 Dec 20;13(6):e0215822.
doi: 10.1128/mbio.02158-22. Epub 2022 Oct 26.

The Remarkable Genetics of Helicobacter pylori

Daniel Falush  1
Affiliations
Comment

The Remarkable Genetics of Helicobacter pylori

Daniel Falush. mBio. .

Abstract

The Helicobacter pylori genome is more thoroughly mixed by homologous recombination than by any other organism that has been investigated, leading to apparent "free recombination" within populations. A recent mBio article by F. Ailloud, I. Estibariz, G. Pfaffinger, and S. Suerbaum (mBio 13:e01811-22, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01811-22) helps to elucidate the cellular machinery that is used to achieve these unusual rates of genetic exchange. Specifically, they show that the UvrC gene, which is part of the repair machinery for DNA damage caused by ultraviolet light, has evolved an additional function in H. pylori, allowing very short tracts of DNA-with a mean length of only 28 bp-to be imported into the genome during natural transformation.

Keywords: Helicobacter pylori; homologous recombination; linkage disequilibrium.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Comment on

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