Figure 3

A representation of the circular genome of A. phagocytophilum based on the sequenced HZ strain (NC_007797.1, [ 23 ]). The outer circle (orange & purple) gives genome landmarks in base pairs. The two purple sections indicate the locations of two p44 pseudogene clusters [65]. The inner circle (dark blue) shows the location of the seven genetic regions used in this study (pink bars) as well as six other genetic regions that have been important for A. phagocytophilum strain characterization or may have functional importance in host interactions (light blue bars). Green arrows indicate that the coding sequence of a genetic region is in the forward direction relative to the published genome and red arrows indicate that the coding sequence of the genetic region is in the reverse direction relative to the published genome. (See Additional file 1: Table S5 for more details).