Survival of spinach-associated Helicobacter pylori in the viable but nonculturable state

The environmental reservoir and mode of transmission of Helicobacter pylori is currently unknown due to difficulties in isolating H. pylori from non-human sources. The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of H. pylori to survive in a viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state when in association with spinach. H. pylori cells rapidly became non-detectable by plating, however mRNA transcripts were detected 6 days after the cells were introduced to the spinach. It was found that exposure to white light rapidly induced the VBNC state in H. pylori, suggesting sunlight may be a factor in loss of culturability of this pathogen. Our study indicates that spinach-associated H. pylori cells can remain viable and virulent despite their lack of culturability, which may help explain the lack of culturability from environmental sources.