Detection and variability analyses of CRISPR-like loci in the H. pylori genome García Zea, Jerson Alexander Herrán Moreno, Roberto De La Robles Rodríguez, Francisca Navajas Pérez, Rafael Ruiz Rejón, Carmelo Variability CRISPR-like VlpC gene Phylogenetic marker Helicobacter pylori Helicobacter pylori is a human pathogenic bacterium with a high genomic plasticity. Although the functional CRISPR-Cas system has not been found in its genome, CRISPR-like loci have been recently identified. In this work, 53 genomes from different geographical areas are analyzed for the search and analysis of variability of this type of structure. We confirm the presence of a locus that was previously described in the VlpC gene in al lgenomes, and we characterize new CRISPR-like loci in other genomic locations. By studying the variability and gene location of these loci, the evolution and the possible roles of these sequences are discussed. Additionally, the usefulness of this type of sequences as a phylogenetic marker has been demonstrated, associating the different strains by geographical area. 2020-01-16T10:10:05Z 2020-01-16T10:10:05Z 2019-01-11 journal article García-Zea JA, de la Herrán R, Robles Rodríguez F, Navajas-Pérez R, Ruiz Rejón C. 2019. Detection and variability analyses of CRISPR-like loci in the H. pylori genome. PeerJ 7:e6221 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/58809 10.7717/peerj.6221 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ open access Atribución 3.0 España PeerJ