Data-base techniques for multiple two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analyses

Two-dimensional protein electrophoresis can benefit from a powerful set of computer-supported image processing and data structure/management procedures. Detection of quantitative differences is complicated by local inhomogeneities in the polyacrylamide base; biochemical changes and variations in temperature and preparative technique also make the between-gel density and x-y coordinate correspondences quite imprecise. The program presented here provides local alignment and computer-controlled variable "flicker" rates for multiple gels, with use of an interactive display system. Manual spot densitometry, referred to a National Bureau of Standards density wedge, can be complemented by a set of automatic densitometry routines for previously established lists of spots. The ability to establish a set of local landmarks, either by included standards or user identification, provides a basis for automatic n-way gel comparison for subsets or for the entire set of spots. Automatic segmentatin algorithms allow isolatin of spots and separation of touching and partially overlapping regions. Various analytical and statistical facilities are part of the user's access to the interactively developed data base. The data-structure and image-manipulation techniques developed here allow for user-directed and heuristic comparisons with online presentation of intermediate and final results.