Kente: A Graph-based Pangenomic Approach for Horizontal Gene Transfer Detection in Microbiomes

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) shapes bacterial evolution and microbial ecosystems, yet detecting HGT within microbiomes remains a challenge due to fragmented metagenomic assemblies, reference bias, reliance on gene boundaries, and limited ability to model structural mosaicism and patterns across genomes.

We present Kente, a novel pangenome graph-based framework designed for HGT detection that aligns metagenomic assembly contigs to a curated database of >600 genus-level bacterial pangenome graphs constructed using minigraph. Kente infers local taxonomic composition along contigs using alignment evidence and classifies candidate transfers using structured clade-transition topologies (e.g., A-B-A sandwich, open tips, and mosaic patterns). A complementary intra-genus module detects inter-species transfers within a single genus graph using segment-level clade annotations.

Across simulated intra- and inter-genus transfer scenarios, Kente achieves higher precision and comparable recall relative to existing gene-centric microbiome HGT detection approaches while reducing false positives from fragmented assemblies. Application to real human gut metagenomes (HMP2, n = 26) demonstrates Kente's ability to detect candidate cross-lineage transfer regions in complex microbial communities. Runtime profiling shows near-linear scaling with input size, enabling efficient analysis of large metagenomic assemblies.Availability and Implementation: https://github.com/treangenlab/Kente.