Isolation and characterization of a novel helicobacter species, helicobacter jaachi sp. Nov., from common marmosets (Callithrix jaachus)

Purpose-bred common marmosets from domestic sources housed in a US research facility, and used in multiple drug discovery programmes, were noted to have a high incidence of spontaneous inflammatory bowel disease and sporadic cholecystitis and cholangiohepatitis. Inflammatory infiltrates increased in incidence and severity with age. Because Helicobacter spp. have been linked to gastrointestinal diseases, samples from the gastrointestinal tracts of 39 marmosets were screened for Helicobacter spp. by culture and PCR. Helicobacter spp. were frequently detected in marmosets; 28.2% of the marmosets were positive for a proposed novel species, Helicobacter jaachi sp. nov., by culture, and 48.7% were positive by Helicobacter genus-specific PCR. Seventeen strains of Helicobacter sp. from 11 marmosets were cultured from various gastrointestinal sites. Older animals (age 6–11 years) had a higher helicobacter prevalence rate (57.1%) compared with younger animals (age 3–5 years), which had a 27.2% prevalence rate. Cells of H. jaachi sp. nov. were catalase, urease and oxidase positive and had fusiform morphology, with periplasmic fibres and multiple bipolar, sheathed flagella. All isolates had similar 16S and 23S rRNA sequences, which clustered as representatives of a novel Helicobacter species closely related to ‘Helicobacter sanguini’ (97%), a species isolated from cotton-top tamarins and ‘Helicobacter callitrichis’ (96%) isolated previously from the faeces of common marmosets. The whole genome sequence of one of the liver isolates, H. jaachi sp. nov. MIT 09-6949T, had a 1.9 Mb genome length with a 41 mol% DNA G+C content. The type strain of Helicobacter jaachi sp. nov., MIT 09-6949T, has been deposited in the BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection as LMG 28613T. These findings add to the increasing number of animal species with gastrointestinal disease in which novel enterohepatic Helicobacter spp. have been isolated.