Fig. 5

Venn diagrams of virulence-associated gene enrichment in pathotypes and phylogroups. Enriched virulence-associated genes (numbers without parentheses) were identified with 70% inclusion and 30% exclusion group cutoffs for the bovine-associated E. coli classified either by a pathotype (MAEC or commensal) or b phylogenetic groups (A, B1, B2, or E). Statistical significance of VF association was tested with Fisher’s exact test (p < 0.05, numbers with a single asterisk) and Bonferroni corrected (numbers with two asterisks). In the phylogroups association was only tested for the multi-genome phylogroups A versus B1. As with the OG enrichment analysis, phylogenetic lineage of the strains dominates VF content and only very few virulence-associated genes were enriched in the pathotypes