Core artificial sequence alignment. The polymorphic positions (SNPs, insertions, and deletions) at four MNR loci were joined to create a reduced sequence alignment (68 polymorphic points along 534 bp) for 41 E. coli strains. Numbers above each column indicate the position at the specific locus.?, entire locus was not amplified in this strain; −, the specific position was absent (i.e., deleted).