Culturable Bacterial Microbiota of the Stomach ofHelicobacter pyloriPositive and Negative Gastric Disease Patients

Abstract

Human stomach is the only known natural habitat ofHelicobacter pylori(Hp), a major bacterial pathogen that causes different gastroduodenal diseases. Despite this, the impact ofHpon the diversity and the composition of the gastric microbiota has been poorly studied. In this study, we have analyzed the culturable gastric microbiota of 215 Malaysian patients, including 131Hppositive and 84Hpnegative individuals that were affected by different gastric diseases. Non-Hpbacteria isolated from biopsy samples were identified by matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry based biotyping and16SrRNAsequencing. The presence ofHpdid not significantly modify the diversity of the gastric microbiota. However, correlation was observed between the isolation of Streptococci and peptic ulcer disease. In addition, as a first report,Burkholderia pseudomalleiwas also isolated from the gastric samples of the local population. This study suggested that there may be geographical variations in the diversity of the human gastric microbiome. Geographically linked diversity in the gastric microbiome and possible interactions betweenHpand other bacterial species from stomach microbiota in pathogenesis are proposed for further investigations.