Correlation versus causation: Helicobacter pylori population heterogeneity complicates the identification of mutant strain phenotypes

may impact downstream phenotypic analyses. Moreover, these data emphasize the necessity of genetic confirmation redundancy and/or complementation to conclusively move from correlation to causation when analyzing phenotypes of constructed mutant strains. IMPORTANCE: population may affect phenotypes of interest; this serves to emphasize the necessity of redundant methods of strain construction, sequence confirmation, and/or genetic complementation to conclusively move from correlation to causation for any phenotype of interest.