Until March 2013, 43 complete BI6727 genomes and 198 draft genome sequences were already deposited in GenBank for public access, and the federated genomic databases still growing. Summarizing on the genomic sequences currently

available, based on the country of origin of the source patient: 18 were from North and South America, 14 from Far East Asia (Japan/Korea/China), 11 from Europe, 10 from Malaysia, six from Africa, four from India, and one from Australia. There was insufficient information on the origin of the source patients for the remaining 177 strains. When classified by the disease status of the patient: 17 were isolated from gastritis patients, 10 from gastric cancer patients, nine from duodenal ulcer patients, two from gastric PD98059 in vitro cancer patients, and two from patients presented with gastric MALT-lymphoma. The disease status of the remaining 201 strains was unknown. Based on available data of complete genomes in GenBank, the average size

of an H. pylori genome was estimated as 1.62 Mb (1.51–1.71 Mb) with a GC content of 38.92% (38.40–39.30%). The average H. pylori genome was predicted to consist of 1590 (1429–1749) open-reading frames encoding 1532 (1382–1707) proteins. Notable among many other H. pylori genomes that have been sequenced during this period is H. pylori (hpEurope) strain N6, which is widely used in research because of its high transformation efficiency [4]. The availability of the genome sequence for N6 will facilitate analysis and evaluation of novel and existing experimental data using this strain. Our survey of the H. pylori genomes (Table 1) announced between April 2012 and March 2013 entails a number of genomes contributed from Asian countries such as South Korea, Japan, and China; these are the countries with the highest incidence

of gastric cancer in the world [5]. However, only a few Chinese strains are available. Adding to the collection of strains from geographic regions with high incidence of gastroduodenal diseases, H. pylori strain XZ274, isolated from a Tibetan gastric cancer patient, was the first from the high-altitude Tibetan plateau, to be sequenced [6]. The complete genome sequence would likely be helpful in understanding the adaptation of this bacterium to patients living in high-altitude areas and the reason selleck screening library for high infection rate in the Tibetan plateau. Contributing to the diversity of strains from regions with high incidence of gastrointestinal diseases, draft genomes of three strains isolated from two atrophic gastritis (HLJ193 and HLJ256), and one gastric ulcer (HLJ271) disease patients from Heilongjiang province, China, were also made available [7]. In addition, two H. pylori strains isolated from duodenal ulcer patients in Bangalore (NAB47) and Delhi (NAD1) in India, where the rate of infection is high but the rate of gastric cancer is low, were also sequenced [8].