Helicobacter hepaticus

{{Short description|Species of bacterium}}

{{Speciesbox

| image =

| image_caption =

| genus = Helicobacter

| species = hepaticus

| authority = Fox et al., 1994

}}

Helicobacter hepaticus is a bacterium in the Helicobacteraceae family, Campylobacterales order.{{cite journal |vauthors=Fox JG, Dewhirst FE, Tully JG, etal |title=Helicobacter hepaticus sp. nov., a microaerophilic bacterium isolated from livers and intestinal mucosal scrapings from mice |journal=Journal of Clinical Microbiology |volume=32 |issue=5 |pages=1238–45 |date=May 1994 |doi=10.1128/JCM.32.5.1238-1245.1994 |pmid=8051250 |pmc=263656 |url=}}

It has a spiral shape and bipolar, single, sheathed flagellum. The bacterium was first isolated from the livers of mice with active, chronic hepatitis. Other organs the bacterium colonize include the cecal and colonic mucosae of mice. It elicits persistent hepatitis in mice and has been associated with colorectal cancer and other diseases.{{cite journal|last1=Fox|first1=J G|last2=Ge|first2=Z|last3=Whary|first3=M T|last4=Erdman|first4=S E|last5=Horwitz|first5=B H|title=Helicobacter hepaticus infection in mice: models for understanding lower bowel inflammation and cancer|journal=Mucosal Immunology|volume=4|issue=1|year=2010|pages=22–30|issn=1933-0219|doi=10.1038/mi.2010.61|pmid=20944559|pmc=3939708|url=http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/1721.1/88710/1/Fox_Helicobacter%20hepaticus.pdf}}{{cite journal |vauthors=Shames B, Fox JG, Dewhirst F, Yan L, Shen Z, Taylor NS |title=Identification of widespread Helicobacter hepaticus infection in feces in commercial mouse colonies by culture and PCR assay |journal=Journal of Clinical Microbiology |volume=33 |issue=11 |pages=2968–72 |date=November 1995 |doi=10.1128/JCM.33.11.2968-2972.1995 |pmid=8576355 |pmc=228616 |url=}} Its genome has been sequenced and is 1,799,146 bases long with 1,875 coding sequences.{{cite journal|last1=Suerbaum|first1=Sebastian|title=The complete genome sequence of the carcinogenic bacterium Helicobacter hepaticus|journal=PNAS|date=2003|volume=100|issue=13|pages=7901–7906|pmid=12810954|doi=10.1073/pnas.1332093100|pmc=164685|bibcode=2003PNAS..100.7901S|doi-access=free}}