Both sequence diversity and population structures can vary widely among pathogenic bacterial species. In some species, all isolates are highly similar, whereas in other species, any two unrelated isolates can be easily distinguished by simple fingerprinting methods. Strains of Helicobacter pylori have been known since the late 1980s to exhibit considerable genetic diversity (24, 28). However, systematic analyses of the genetic diversity and population structure of H. pylori have only begun recently. The first part of this chapter contains a general introduction to bacterial population genetics, and the second part reviews the available data on the genetic diversity within H. pylori and the mechanisms that have generated this diversity.
Copyright © 2001, ASM Press.