The 5300-year-old Helicobacter pylori genome of the Iceman

The stomach bacterium Helicobacter pylori is one of the most prevalent human pathogens. It has dispersed globally with its human host, resulting in a distinct phylogeographic pattern that can be used to reconstruct both recent and ancient human migrations. The extant European population of H. pylori is known to be a hybrid between Asian and African bacteria, but there exist different hypotheses about when and where the hybridization took place, reflecting the complex demographic history of Europeans. Here, we present a 5300-year-old H. pylori genome from a European Copper Age glacier mummy. The "Iceman" H. pylori is a nearly pure representative of the bacterial population of Asian origin that existed in Europe before hybridization, suggesting that the African population arrived in Europe within the past few thousand years. The stomach bacterium Helicobacter pylori is one of the most prevalent human pathogens. It has dispersed globally with its human host, resulting in a distinct phylogeographic pattern that can be used to reconstruct both recent and ancient human migrations. The extant European population of H. pylori is known to be a hybrid between Asian and African bacteria, but there exist different hypotheses about when and where the hybridization took place, reflecting the complex demographic history of Europeans. Here, we present a 5300-year-old H. pylori genome from a European Copper Age glacier mummy. The "Iceman" H. pylori is a nearly pure representative of the bacterial population of Asian origin that existed in Europe before hybridization, suggesting that the African population arrived in Europe within the past few thousand years. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Scuola Super Sanitaria Prov Claudian
Univ Bordeaux
Otto von Guericke Univ
Max Planck Inst Sci Human Hist
Inst Syst Biol
Penn State Univ
University of Venda
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
Accademia Europea per la ricerca applicata ed il perfezionamento professionale
Universität Wien
University of California, Davis
Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM)
Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien
Karolinska Institut
Institute for Systems Biology (ISB)
European Academy of Bozen-Bolzano
Otto von Guericke University
University of Kiel
Universite de Bordeaux
University of California System
Karolinska Institutet
Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE)
Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen