Selective pressure on membrane proteins drives the evolution of Helicobacter pylori Colombian subpopulations

Helicobacter pylori have coevolved with mankind since its origins, adapting to different human groups. In America H. pylori has evolved in several subpopulations specific for regions or even countries. In this study we analyzed the genome of 163 Colombian strains along with 1,113 strains that represent worldwide H. pylori populations to better discern the ancestry and adaption to Colombian people. Population structure was inferred with FineStructure and chromosome painting identifying the proportion of ancestries in Colombian isolates. Phylogenetic relationship was analyzed using the SNPs present in the core genome. Also, a Fst analysis was done to identify the gene variants with the strongest fixation in the identified Colombian subpopulations in relation to their parent population hspSWEurope. Worldwide, population structure analysis allowed the identification of two Colombian subpopulations, the previously described hspSWEuropeColombia and a novel subpopulation named hspColombia. In addition, three subgroups of H. pylori were identified within hspColombia that follow their geographic origin. The Colombian H. pylori subpopulations represent an admixture of European, African and Native indigenous ancestry; although some genomes showed a high proportion of self-identity, suggesting a strong adaption to these mestizo Colombian groups. The Fst analysis identified 82 SNPs significantly fixed in 26 genes of the hspColombia subpopulation that encode mainly for outer membrane proteins and proteins involved in central metabolism. The strongest fixation indices were identified in genes encoding the membrane proteins HofC, HopE, FrpB-4 and Sialidase A. These findings demonstrate that H. pylori has evolved in Colombia to give rise to subpopulations following a geographical structure, evolving to an autochthonous genetic pool, drive by a positive selective pressure especially on genes encoding for outer membrane proteins.