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BacStalk: A comprehensive and interactive image analysis software tool for bacterial cell biology
Author(s) -
Hartmann Raimo,
Teeseling Muriel C. F.,
Thanbichler Martin,
Drescher Knut
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1111/mmi.14501
Subject(s) - biology , adaptation (eye) , software , visualization , computational biology , representation (politics) , image analysis , flagellum , biological system , bacteria , computer science , artificial intelligence , image processing , image (mathematics) , genetics , digital image processing , neuroscience , politics , political science , law , programming language
Prokaryotic cells display a striking subcellular organization. Studies of the underlying mechanisms in different species have greatly enhanced our understanding of the morphological and physiological adaptation of bacteria to different environmental niches. The image analysis software tool BacStalk is designed to extract comprehensive quantitative information from the images of morphologically complex bacteria with stalks, flagella, or other appendages. The resulting data can be visualized in interactive demographs, kymographs, cell lineage plots, and scatter plots to enable fast and thorough data analysis and representation. Notably, BacStalk can generate demographs and kymographs that display fluorescence signals within the two‐dimensional cellular outlines, to accurately represent their subcellular location. Beyond organisms with visible appendages, BacStalk is also suitable for established, non‐stalked model organisms with common or uncommon cell shapes. BacStalk, therefore, contributes to the advancement of prokaryotic cell biology and physiology, as it widens the spectrum of easily accessible model organisms and enables highly intuitive and interactive data analysis and visualization.