The Helicobacter pylori Genome Project : insights into H. pylori population structure from analysis of a worldwide collection of complete genomes

Helicobacter pylori, a dominant member of the gastric microbiota, shares co-evolutionary history with humans. This has led to the development of genetically distinct H. pylori subpopulations associated with the geographic origin of the host and with differential gastric disease risk. Here, we provide insights into H. pylori population structure as a part of the Helicobacter pylori Genome Project (HpGP), a multi-disciplinary initiative aimed at elucidating H. pylori pathogenesis and identifying new therapeutic targets. We collected 1011 well-characterized clinical strains from 50 countries and generated high-quality genome sequences. We analysed core genome diversity and population structure of the HpGP dataset and 255 worldwide reference genomes to outline the ancestral contribution to Eurasian, African, and American populations. We found evidence of substantial contribution of population hpNorthAsia and subpopulation hspUral in Northern European H. pylori. The genomes of H. pylori isolated from northern and southern Indigenous Americans differed in that bacteria isolated in northern Indigenous communities were more similar to North Asian H. pylori while the southern had higher relatedness to hpEastAsia. Notably, we also found a highly clonal yet geographically dispersed North American subpopulation, which is negative for the cag pathogenicity island, and present in 7% of sequenced US genomes. We expect the HpGP dataset and the corresponding strains to become a major asset for H. pylori genomics

Excited-state forms of 2-methylamino-6-methyl-4-nitropyridine N-oxide and 2-butylamino-6-methyl-4-nitropyridine N-oxide

Excited-state quantum chemical calculations of two 2-alkyloamino-6-methyl- 4-nitropyridine N-oxides are presented. Several different calculation methods and different basis sets were used, which all lead to similar results, although the precise values of excited-state energies and excited-state dipóle moments differ. All methods used predict that in the Si excited state four types of isomers occur. In three cases, these excited-state local energy minima correspond to ground-state isomers, and these all have a ππ* character. The fourth excited-state minimum, which we denote L*, does not have a corresponding ground-state isomer and has an nπ* character. This isomer is stable and plays an important role in understanding the photophysics of these molecules. In addition, we also calculated barriers between these excited-state minima, using predescribed reaction pathways. The theoretical results derived in this Article are confronted with experimental data from earlier papers. © 2009 American Chemical Society