However, pathogenic strains can cause arthritis, bone infections and lameness, creating serious animal-welfare problems and economic losses for poultry producers. The research team, led by Aranyak Goswami of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station’s Center for Agricultural Data Analytics, examined the organization of genes within genomic islands. Rather than treating the bacterial genome as a simple list of genetic components, the researchers analyzed it as a structured map. For the proof-of-concept study, the researchers analyzed the genomes of 145 E. cecorum strains isolated from poultry. The dataset included 95 nonpathogenic strains and 50 pathogenic strains capable of causing illness.