SummaryFur, the ferric uptake regulator, is a transcription factor that controls iron metabolism in bacteria. Binding of ferrous iron to Fur triggers a conformational change that activates the protein for binding to specific DNA sequences named Fur boxes. In Helicobacter pylori, HpFur is involved in acid response and is important for gastric colonization in model animals. Here we present the crystal structure of a functionally active HpFur mutant (HpFur2M; C78S-C150S) bound to zinc. Although its fold is similar to that of other Fur and Fur-like proteins, the crystal structure of HpFur reveals a unique structured N-terminal extension and an unusual C-terminal helix. The structure also shows three metal binding sites: S1 the structural ZnS 4 site previously characterized biochemically in HpFur and the two zinc sites identified in other Fur proteins. Site-directed mutagenesis and spectroscopy analyses of purified wild-type HpFur and various mutants show that the two metal binding sites common to other Fur proteins can be also metallated by cobalt. DNA protection and circular dichroism experiments demonstrate that, while these two sites influence the affinity of HpFur for DNA, only one is absolutely required for DNA binding and could be responsible for the conformational changes of Fur upon metal binding while the other is a secondary site.

Our understanding of basic evolutionary processes in bacteria is still very limited. For example, multiple recent dating estimates are based on a universal inter-species molecular clock rate, but that rate was calibrated using estimates of geological dates that are no longer accepted. We therefore estimated the short-term rates of mutation and recombination in Helicobacter pylori by sequencing an average of 39,300 bp in 78 gene fragments from 97 isolates. These isolates included 34 pairs of sequential samples, which were sampled at intervals of 0.25 to 10.2 years. They also included single isolates from 29 individuals (average age: 45 years) from 10 families. The accumulation of sequence diversity increased with time of separation in a clock-like manner in the sequential isolates. We used Approximate Bayesian Computation to estimate the rates of mutation, recombination, mean length of recombination tracts, and average diversity in those tracts. The estimates indicate that the short-term mutation rate is 1.4×10−6 (serial isolates) to 4.5×10−6 (family isolates) per nucleotide per year and that three times as many substitutions are introduced by recombination as by mutation. The long-term mutation rate over millennia is 5–17-fold lower, partly due to the removal of non-synonymous mutations due to purifying selection. Comparisons with the recent literature show that short-term mutation rates vary dramatically in different bacterial species and can span a range of several orders of magnitude.