Characterization of Expression of a Functionally Conserved Helicobacter pylori Methyltransferase-Encoding Gene within Inflamed Mucosa and during In Vitro Growth

Methylation of bacterial DNA can regulate microbial growth and virulence. Expression of hpyIM a conserved methyltransferase of the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori was quantitated in gastric biopsy specimens from 41 H. pylori–infected patients and during growth in vitro, by quantitative reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction and/or RNA slot-blot analysis, to determine whether levels of transcription were associated with pathologic outcome, as based on both severity of gastritis and inflammatory cytokine levels, or were regulated by bacterial growth phase. The effects that hpyIM inactivation has on bacterial morphology were determined by electron microscopy. Expression of hpyIM varied dramatically within colonized gastric tissue, and levels were not related to either colonization density, severity of inflammation, mucosal IL-8 concentrations, or clinical disease. In vitro, hpyIM expression was higher during log-phase growth and was required for normal bacterial morphology, suggesting that hpyIM expression may be growth-phase regulated within the gastric niche