plusTipTracker: Quantitative image analysis software for the measurement of microtubule dynamics

Area of Science:

• Cell Biology
• Biophysics
• Computational Biology

Background:

• Microtubules (MTs) are dynamic cytoskeletal polymers crucial for cell structure and function.
• Tracking MT dynamics is essential for understanding cellular processes.
• Existing methods often only capture MT growth phases, limiting comprehensive analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• Introduce plusTipTracker, an open-source MATLAB software package for automated analysis of MT dynamics.
• Enable inference of full MT trajectories (growth, pause, shrinkage) from +TIP binding protein data.
• Provide tools for quantitative analysis of MT network architecture and subpopulations.

Main Methods:

• Utilizes a spatially and temporally global tracking framework for MT trajectory reconstruction.
• Links collinear, sequential growth tracks to infer pause and shrinkage phases.
• Incorporates graphical user interfaces for ease of use by novice MATLAB users.

Main Results:

• plusTipTracker allows automated tracking and analysis of thousands of MTs.
• The software enables quantitative exploration of MT network architecture.
• Demonstrates accurate reconstruction of full MT trajectories by comparing to manual tracing.

Conclusions:

• plusTipTracker offers a robust and flexible platform for studying MT dynamics.
• The software facilitates the investigation of regional differences in MT subpopulations within cells.
• Advances the analysis of +TIP-marked MT dynamics with enhanced numerical methods and analytical functionality.