Fig. 3

Cellular and metabolic analyses of pseudogenes in African MU strains. (a) Cellular processes of pseudogenes in MU strains using the COG database. The hierarchical cluster represents similarities in COG patterns across MU strains. Colours represent the percentage of pseudogenes per pseudogenome. (b) KEGG metabolic pathway analysis of pseudogenomes of MU strains [50]. Pathway modules are coloured based on the broader metabolism groups and each pathway module has an M. ulcerans strain that shows at least ≥ 50% module completeness. The hierarchical cluster represents similarities in metabolic patterns across MU strains. (c) UMAP clustering of module completeness of pseudogenomes of MU strains. Strains are coloured by known origin. Clusters are bounded by a blue line with strains from lineage 1 and 2 annotated. Broken blue circles are subclusters of the larger lineage 1 cluster. The red-bounded cluster represents a lineage 1 subcluster with isolates from mainly Gabon and Cameroon. Red arrows indicate in-house isolates PA38, Z007, and Z039. (d) Distribution of KEGG metabolic pathways completely pseudogenized across the African MU strains