Table 1

Characteristics of the four whole-genome alignments, involving five strains each

E. coli

E. coli B2

S. aureus

S. pyogenes

Median genome size (Mb)

5.2

5.2

2.8

1.8

Maximal MUMi distance

0.3

0.156

0.197

0.175

Coverage^a

72.7%

83.5%

84.5%

83.5%

Percent identity of backbone

98.05%

99.43%

98.73%

99.18%

Total number of loci^b

1,037

539

768

344

Number of microdiversity loci

640

370

556

250

Median size of VS (bp)^c

93

68

78

61

^aProportion of the genome included in the backbone (average). ^bPositions in the alignment where the backbone is interrupted by at least one variable segment (VS).

Touzain et al. Genome Biology 2010 11:R45   doi:10.1186/gb-2010-11-4-r45