FuNTB: a functional network clustering tool for the analysis of genome-wide genetic variants in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

MOTIVATION: Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), still claims around 1.25 million lives each year. The growing threat of drug resistance-often driven by single‑nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in Mtb genomes underscores the need for high‑quality genomic data and powerful bioinformatics tools. We present FuNTB, a python‑based pipeline that detects non‑synonymous SNPs in Mtb and builds functional network clusters to reveal genotype-phenotype relationships.

RESULTS

FuNTB profiles non‑synonymous SNPs at the gene level across user‑defined phenotypes, pinpointing both shared and unique mutations. It ingests annotated Variant Call Format (VCF) files or MTBseq outputs and merges them with clinical metadata to produce network‑XML files compatible with Cytoscape and Gephi. When applied to the CRyPTIC Mtb collection, FuNTB rapidly recovered established resistance genes and surfaced novel candidates, validating its utility for mapping genotype-phenotype associations.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: FuNTB is implemented in Python 3.8+ and is freely available under the MIT license at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15399917.