Figure 6

SplitsTree decomposition network of the pilE gene in different Neisseria species. Full-length pilE coding sequences were obtained from 44 representative non-pathogenic Neisseria genomes available in PubMLST. The pilE from pathogenic Neisseria included in this analysis were from reference strains (i.e. those with fully assembled, closed genomes). For comprehensive analysis we also included meningococcal class II pilE from isolates belonging to cc1, cc4 and cc174 obtained in this work. The species are indicated by colour code. Meningococci with class I pilE (black circles) form a separate branch, while the meningococcal class II pilE genes (black squares) are more closely related to the pilE from non-pathogenic Neisseria species, N. polysaccharea (white circles), N. lactamica (red circles) and one isolate of N. cinerea (grey circle).