All authors are employees of Morinaga Milk Industry. “
“The genus Helicobacter is a gram-negative spiral bacterium, belonging to the family Helicobacteriaceae of the order Campylobacterales within the class Epsilonproteobacteria. Almost all members of genus Helicobacter show curved spiral (S-shape) or fusiform rods that are 0.2–1.2 × 1.5–10 μm. Spiral cells may be tightly or loosely wound depending on the species and on the culture age and condition. Cells in old cultures or those exposed to air become coccoid. Periplasmic fibers may be observed on the cell surface in certain species ( Fig. 1). Helicobacter cinaedi was first
reported as a Campylobacter-like organism type-1 (CLO-1) in 1984 by Fennell et al. [1] They described three different types of CLOs—CLO-1, CLO-2 (later named “Campylobacter fennelliae”), and CLO-3 (still unnamed)—based on biochemical traits (nitrate reduction and odor-producing
ability) and membrane spot DNA–DNA hybridization Anticancer Compound Library cell assay results. The following year, Totten et al. [2] proposed the name “Campylobacter cinaedi” for CLO-1 organisms, although they demonstrated that there are two genetic groups within CLO-1 type, namely, CLO-1a and CLO-1b, with DNA–DNA hybridization values of 42–51%. Ku-0059436 mw Comparable values between CLO-2 and CLO-3 strains were far lower (less than 7%). These data and the lack of biochemical differences between CLO-1a and CLO-1b groups allowed the authors to include both within a single species. Thus, “C. cinaedi” is genetically diverse, involving at least two genomospecies. In 1991, “C. cinaedi” and also “C. fennelliae” were moved into the genus Helicobacter [3] as H. cinaedi and Helicobacter fennelliae [4]. To date, the validation of 33 species in genus Helicobacter has been proposed, but only seven species have been isolated from human clinical specimens ( Table 1, Fig. 2). Helicobacter pylori, classified as a “gastric-Helicobacter species” [5], is the most well known species of the genus Helicobacter, although
H. cinaedi, Helicobacter bilis, Helicobacter canadensis, Helicobacter canis, H. fennelliae, and Helicobacter pullorum, classed as “enterohepatic Helicobacter species” [5], have also been isolated from human clinical specimens. There is an invalid species name related to the genus Helicobacter known as “Flexispira rappini” (sometime referred as “Helicobacter L-NAME HCl rappini”). “F. rappini” was first proposed by Bryner et al. [6] and [7] for a strain group of ultrastructurally distinct, urease-producing strains isolated from lambs, dogs, canine, ovine, and humans. Since this first study, strains have been identified as “F. rappini” by 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison, despite notable morphological and phenotypic differences [8], [9] and [10]. In 2000, Dewhirst et al. [11] reported that “F. rappini” strains represent at least 10 Helicobacter taxa, and then Hänninen et al. [12] and [13] fell into each taxon as a valid Helicobacter species ( Table 2).