Distinguishing Human Ethnic Groups by Means of Sequences from Helicobacter pylori: Lessons from Ladakh

The history of mankind remains one of the most challenging fields of study. However, the emergence of anatomically modern humans has been so recent that only a few genetically informative polymorphisms have accumulated. Here, we show that DNA sequences from Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that colo...

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Published in:	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 101; no. 14; pp. 4746 - 4751
Main Authors:	Wirth, Thierry, Wang, Xiaoyan, Linz, Bodo, Novick, Richard P., Lum, J. Koji, Blaser, Martin, Morelli, Giovanna, Falush, Daniel, Achtman, Mark, Salzano, Francisco Mauro
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States National Academy of Sciences 06-04-2004 National Acad Sciences
Subjects:	Ancestry Anthropology Bacteria Biological Sciences Buddhism DNA, Bacterial - genetics DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics Ethnic Groups Ethnicity Genetic Markers Helicobacter pylori Helicobacter pylori - genetics Human genetics Humans Medical genetics Microsatellite Repeats Microsatellites Mitochondrial DNA Muslims Nucleotides Phylogeny Population genetics Ladakh India India
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Summary:	The history of mankind remains one of the most challenging fields of study. However, the emergence of anatomically modern humans has been so recent that only a few genetically informative polymorphisms have accumulated. Here, we show that DNA sequences from Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that colonizes the stomachs of most humans and is usually transmitted within families, can distinguish between closely related human populations and are superior in this respect to classical human genetic markers. H. pylori from Buddhists and Muslims, the two major ethnic communities in Ladakh (India), differ in their population-genetic structure. Moreover, the prokaryotic diversity is consistent with the Buddhists having arisen from an introgression of Tibetan speakers into an ancient Ladakhi population. H. pylori from Muslims contain a much stronger ancestral Ladakhi component, except for several isolates with an Indo-European signature, probably reflecting genetic flux from the Near East. These signatures in H. pylori sequences are congruent with the recent history of population movements in Ladakh, whereas similar signatures in human microsatellites or mtDNA were only marginally significant. H. pylori sequence analysis has the potential to become an important tool for unraveling short-term genetic changes in human populations.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 Present address: Peter Medawar Building, Oxford University, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3SY, United Kingdom. This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the PNAS office. To whom correspondence may be sent at the present address: Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany. E-mail: thierry.wirth@uni-konstanz.de. ¶¶To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: achtman@mpiib-berlin.mpg.de. Edited by Francisco Mauro Salzano, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, and approved February 12, 2004 Present address: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China. Present address: Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902-2477.
ISSN:	0027-8424 1091-6490
DOI:	10.1073/pnas.0306629101