Notably, a significant co-exclusion relationship between the relative abundances of Campylobacter taxa and NAPSB were present (both of our data sets, Fig. 2I; Additional file 2: Figure S7C), this pseudogene being found to be consistently significantly downregulated in GERD and MET when compared to NORM samples (Fig. 1E). This evidence concerns the gene NAPSB and gastroesophageal reflux disease.