Helicobacter pylori is a human stomach pathogen, naturally-competent for DNA uptake, and prone to homologous recombination. Extensive homoplasy (., phylogenetically-unlinked identical variations) observed in H. pylori genes is considered a hallmark of such recombination. However, H. pylori also exhibits a high mutation rate. The relative adaptive role of homologous recombination and mutation in species diversity is a highly-debated issue in biology. Recombination results in homoplasy. |
