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Dailidiene, D.; Dailide, G.; Ogura, K.; Zhang, M.; Mukhopadhyay, A.K.; Eaton, K.A.; Cattoli, G.; Kusters, J.G.; Berg, D.E.
_Helicobacter acinonychis_: Genetic and rodent infection studies of a _Helicobacter pylori_-like gastric pathogen of cheetahs and other big cats
2004  Journal of Bacteriology (186): 356-365

Insights into bacterium-host interactions and genome evolution can emerge from comparisons among related species. Here we studied _Helicobacter acinonychis _(formerly _H. acinonyx_), a species closely related to the human gastric pathogen _Helicobacter pylori_. Two groups of strains were identified by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA fingerprinting and gene sequencing: one group from six cheetahs in a U.S. zoo and two lions in a European circus, and the other group from a tiger and a lion-tiger hybrid in the same circus. PCR and DNA sequencing showed that each strain lacked the _cag _pathogenicity island and contained a degenerate vacuolating cytotoxin (_vacA_) gene. Analyses of nine other genes (_glmM_, _recA_, _hp519_, _glr_, _cysS_, _ppa_, _flaB_, _flaA_, and _atpA_) revealed a ~2% base substitution difference, on average, between the two _H. acinonychis _groups and a ~8% difference between these genes and their homologs in _H. pylori _reference strains such as 26695. _H. acinonychis _derivatives that could chronically infect mice were selected and were found to be capable of persistent mixed infection with certain _H. pylori _strains. Several variants, due variously to recombination or new mutation, were found after 2 months of mixed infection. _H. acinonychis _' modest genetic distance from _H. pylori_, its ability to infect mice, and its ability to coexist and recombine with certain _H. pylori _strains in vivo should be useful in studies of _Helicobacter _infection and virulence mechanisms and studies of genome evolution.

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