Scientists from the Japanese Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology publish their findings online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The helicobacter, which causes ulcers, and campylobacter, which causes food-borne diarrhoea, share many similar genes
with two harmless proteobacteria -- sulfurovum and nitratiruptor -- found deep on the ocean bed
They grow in extreme environments.
They also have few DNA repair genes, allowing frequent mutations to occur -- they can therefore adapt quickly to changing conditions and to the immune response of a symbiotic host.
Such characteristics suggest that these pathogens evolved from a deep-sea ancestor, and acquired further virulence factors while living in symbiosis with humans
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