Helicobacter Pylori - Evolution

Evolution

Helicobacter pylori migrated out of Africa along with its human host circa 60,000 years ago. Its subsequent evolution created seven prototypes—Europe (isolated from Europe, the Middle East, India and Iran), NE Africa (from Northeast Africa), Africa1 (from countries in Western Africa and South Africa), Africa2 (from South Africa), Asia2 (from Northern India and among isolates from Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia), Sahul (from Australian Aboriginals and Papua New Guineans) and East Asia with the subpopulations E Asia (from East Asians), Maori (from Taiwanese Aboriginals, Melanesians and Polynesians) and Amerind (Native Americans). The precursors of these prototypes have been named ancestral Europe1, ancestral Europe2, ancestral East Asia, ancestral Africa1, ancestral Africa2 and ancestral Sahul. These ancestral prototypes appear to have originated in Africa, Central and East Asia. European and African strains were introduced into the Americas along with its colonisation—both thousands of years ago and more recently—and the slave trade.