Colonyzer: automated quantification of micro-organism growth characteristics on solid agar

Background: High-throughput screens comparing growth rates of arrays of distinct micro-organism cultures on solid agar are useful, rapid methods of quantifying genetic interactions. Growth rate is an informative phenotype which can be estimated by measuring cell densities at one or more times after inoculation. Precise estimates can be made by inoculating cultures onto agar and capturing cell density frequently by plate-scanning or photography, especially throughout the exponential growth phase, and summarising growth with a simple dynamic model (e.g. the logistic growth model). In order to parametrize such a model, a robust image analysis tool capable of capturing a wide range of cell densities from plate photographs is required. Results: Colonyzer is a collection of image analysis algorithms for automatic quantification of the size, granularity, colour and location of micro-organism cultures grown on solid agar. Colonyzer is uniquely sensitive to extremely low cell densities photogr...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: BMCBI
• Authors: Conor Lawless, Darren J. Wilkinson, Alexander Young, Stephen G. Addinall, David A. Lydall
• Keywords: BMCBI 2010, Cell Densities, Growth Rate, Micro-organism Cultures