Helicobacter pylori AdaptationIn Vivoin Response to a High-Salt Diet
Helicobacter pyloriexhibits a high level of intraspecies genetic diversity. In this study, we investigated whether the diversification ofH. pyloriis influenced by the composition of the diet. Specifically, we investigated the effect of a high-salt diet (a known risk factor for gastric adenocarcinoma) onH. pyloridiversification within a host. We analyzedH. pyloristrains isolated from Mongolian gerbils fed either a high-salt diet or a regular diet for 4 months by proteomic and whole-genome sequencing methods. Compared to the input strain and output strains from animals fed a regular diet, the output strains from animals fed a high-salt diet produced higher levels of proteins involved in iron acquisition and oxidative-stress resistance. Several of these changes were attributable to a nonsynonymous mutation infur(fur-R88H). Further experiments indicated that this mutation conferred increased resistance to high-salt conditions and oxidative stress. We propose a model in which a high-salt diet leads to high levels of gastric inflammation and associated oxidative stress inH. pylori-infected animals and that these conditions, along with the high intraluminal concentrations of sodium chloride, lead to selection ofH. pyloristrains that are most fit for growth in this environment.