A graphical model approach to automated classification of protein subcellular location patterns in multi-cell images

Background: Knowledge of the subcellular location of a protein is critical to understanding how that protein works in a cell. This location is frequently determined by the interpretation of fluorescence microscope images. In recent years, automated systems have been developed for consistent and objective interpretation of such images so that the protein pattern in a single cell can be assigned to a known location category. While these systems perform with nearly perfect accuracy for single cell images of all major subcellular structures, their ability to distinguish subpatterns of an organelle (such as two Golgi proteins) is not perfect. Our goal in the work described here was to improve the ability of an automated system to decide which of two similar patterns is present in a field of cells by considering more than one cell at a time. Since cells displaying the same location pattern are often clustered together, considering multiple cells may be expected to improve discrimination bet...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2006
• Where: BMCBI
• Authors: Shann-Ching Chen, Robert F. Murphy
• Keywords: Automated System, BMCBI 2006, Cell, Proteins