H. pylori is a good swimmer that can travel through the viscous mucus layer like a screw driven into a cork. It is approximately 0.5 µm in diameter and 3–5 µm long, with one to three spiral turns. Its helical shape, formed by peptidoglycan structural arrangement and cross-linking, enables the bacterium to burrow deeper into the mucus layer
[15][1]. It has been shown that the first colonizing strain of
H. pylori establishes an irreplaceable “founder colony”, which is found deep in the gastric glands, serving as a reservoir to the transient population in the superficial mucosa that is shed due to peristalsis
[16][2]. In addition,
H. pylori is armed with four to six unipolar flagella. Each flagellum measures around 30 nm in diameter and 12–15 nm in length. One flagellum is made up of several subunits: flagellar basal body, flagellar hook, flagellar filament, and flagellar sheath
[17][3]. The expression, synthesis, and finally assembly of a single flagellum has been estimated to involve more than 50 different putative proteins. Mutations in genes that form the filament (
flaA encoding the major structural component and
flaB expressing the minor species that localizes to the base of the flagellum) and flagellar hook (
flgE encoding the structural protein and
fliD for hook-associated protein expression) have been reported to cause the formation of truncated flagella or result in aflagellated strains with reduced colonizing abilities
[18][4]. Moreover, recent evidence has shown the importance of flagella in the formation of bacterial biofilm to enhance persistence. Among the involved genes are
flgB (encoding rod protein),
flgE,
flgK and
flgL (both encoding hook-filament junction proteins),
fliK (encoding hook length control protein), and
flaB and
flag (encoding filament protein)
[19][5].