The super repertoire of type IV effectors in the pangenome of Ehrlichia spp. provides insights into host-specificity and pathogenesis
Fig 3
Network analysis of Anaplasmataceae species-specific pT4Es and host range suggests the existence of host-specific pT4Es.
This network of species-specific pT4Es was drawn using the hive plot algorithm, which is a rational visualization method for drawing networks based on their structural properties. Nodes are mapped to and positioned on radially distributed linear axes and edges are drawn as curved links. Ehrlichia species-specific pT4Es are represented by nodes on the a1 axis of the hive plot. The size of each node is linked to the number of species-specific pT4Es for a given Ehrlichia species which is colour coded as shown in the upper left rectangle: E. chaffeensis str. Arkansas (blue), E. canis str. Jake (orange), E. ruminantium str. Gardel (green) and E. muris AS145 (red). Purple node is the combined subset of pT4Es specific to E. chaffeensis str. Arkansas and E. muris AS145. Anaplasma species-specific pT4E are represented by nodes on the a3 axis whose size and nuance of grey depend on the Anaplasma species. The different hosts of these 7 Anaplasmataceae bacteria are represented by grey nodes on the a2 axis. Curved links a1-a2 and a3-a2 show the putative host specificity of each bacterium. Links between a1-a3 represent shared host-specific effectors. The colour of each link is related to the node from which it emerges.