Fig. 4

Different virulence functionalities contribute to the pathogenicity of Streptococcus spp. and polymicrobial communities during NSTIs. a Summed mean expression level (log₂ TPM ± s.d.) of genes categorized based on their encoded InterPro (IPR) domains. The relative contribution of documented streptococcal virulence genes to IPR domain expression is depicted on the bars (left). The log₂ differences in IPR expression between Streptococcus spp. (red, n = 17) and polymicrobial community (blue, n = 22) mediated NSTIs are depicted in the center. Gray bars mark IPR domains expressed by only one pathobiome and were calculated assuming one pseudo-TPM. b Streptococcal virulence factor expression (TPM) during NSTIs. The expression level is given for virulence-associated genes annotated using the virulence factor database (VFDB). c, d IPR domain expression associated with specific virulence categories. Average total abundances (TPM ± s.d.) (c) and relative expression levels of virulence categories (d) are given. e, f Relative proportion of InterPro domain expression in the functional categories ‘adhesion’ (e) and ‘proteolysis’ (f) associated with terms indicating target specificity (e) or protease class (f). Putative adhesins and unclassified proteases are depicted in gray. ***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05, Kruskal–Wallis test with Dunn’s multiple comparison post hoc test (n = 39). g Contribution of the five genera with the highest average abundances in polymicrobial NSTIs to the total pathobiome expression of specific virulence categories. The relative amount of transcripts (TPM) expressed by each genus is plotted against the relative amount of transcripts encoding IPR domains involved in adhesion (top) or proteolysis (bottom). Squared correlation coefficients are depicted. Source data are available as a source data file