STrack: A Tool to Simply Track Bacterial Cells in Microscopy Time-Lapse Images. 2023

Helena Todorov, and Tania Miguel Trabajo, and Jan Roelof van der Meer
Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Bacterial growth can be studied at the single cell level through time-lapse microscopy imaging. Technical advances in microscopy lead to increasing image quality, which in turn allows to visualize larger areas of growth, containing more and more cells. In this context, the use of automated computational tools becomes essential. In this paper, we present STrack, a tool that allows to track cells in time-lapse images in a fast and efficient way. We compared it to 3 recently published tracking tools on images ranging over 6 different bacterial strains with various morphologies. STrack showed to be the most consistent tracking tool, returning more than 80% of correct cell lineages on average, in comparison to manually annotated ground-truth. The python implementation of STrack, a docker structure, and a tutorial on how to download and use the tool can be found on the following github page: https://github.com/Helena-todd/STrack. IMPORTANCE Automated image analysis of growing prokaryotic cell populations becomes indispensable with larger data sets, such as derived by time-lapse microscopy. The tracking of the same individual cells and their daughter lineages is cumbersome and prone to errors in image alignment or poor resolution. Here, we present a simplified but highly effective tool for non-specialists to engage in cell tracking. The tool can be downloaded and run as a contained script-structure requiring minimal user input. Run times are fast, in comparison to other equivalent tools, and outputs consist of cell tables that can be subsequently used for lineage analysis, for which we offer examples. By providing open code, training data sets, as well as simplified script execution, we aimed to facilitate wide usage and further tool development for image analysis.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007091 Image Processing, Computer-Assisted A technique of inputting two-dimensional or three-dimensional images into a computer and then enhancing or analyzing the imagery into a form that is more useful to the human observer. Biomedical Image Processing,Computer-Assisted Image Processing,Digital Image Processing,Image Analysis, Computer-Assisted,Image Reconstruction,Medical Image Processing,Analysis, Computer-Assisted Image,Computer-Assisted Image Analysis,Computer Assisted Image Analysis,Computer Assisted Image Processing,Computer-Assisted Image Analyses,Image Analyses, Computer-Assisted,Image Analysis, Computer Assisted,Image Processing, Biomedical,Image Processing, Computer Assisted,Image Processing, Digital,Image Processing, Medical,Image Processings, Medical,Image Reconstructions,Medical Image Processings,Processing, Biomedical Image,Processing, Digital Image,Processing, Medical Image,Processings, Digital Image,Processings, Medical Image,Reconstruction, Image,Reconstructions, Image
D008853 Microscopy The use of instrumentation and techniques for visualizing material and details that cannot be seen by the unaided eye. It is usually done by enlarging images, transmitted by light or electron beams, with optical or magnetic lenses that magnify the entire image field. With scanning microscopy, images are generated by collecting output from the specimen in a point-by-point fashion, on a magnified scale, as it is scanned by a narrow beam of light or electrons, a laser, a conductive probe, or a topographical probe. Compound Microscopy,Hand-Held Microscopy,Light Microscopy,Optical Microscopy,Simple Microscopy,Hand Held Microscopy,Microscopy, Compound,Microscopy, Hand-Held,Microscopy, Light,Microscopy, Optical,Microscopy, Simple
D012984 Software Sequential operating programs and data which instruct the functioning of a digital computer. Computer Programs,Computer Software,Open Source Software,Software Engineering,Software Tools,Computer Applications Software,Computer Programs and Programming,Computer Software Applications,Application, Computer Software,Applications Software, Computer,Applications Softwares, Computer,Applications, Computer Software,Computer Applications Softwares,Computer Program,Computer Software Application,Engineering, Software,Open Source Softwares,Program, Computer,Programs, Computer,Software Application, Computer,Software Applications, Computer,Software Tool,Software, Computer,Software, Computer Applications,Software, Open Source,Softwares, Computer Applications,Softwares, Open Source,Source Software, Open,Source Softwares, Open,Tool, Software,Tools, Software
D058948 Cell Tracking Non-invasive imaging of cells that have been labeled non-destructively, such as with nanoemulsions or reporter genes that can be detected by molecular imaging, to monitor their location, viability, cell lineage expansion, response to drugs, movement, or other behaviors in vivo. Cell Trackings,Tracking, Cell,Trackings, Cell
D059008 Time-Lapse Imaging Recording serial images of a process at regular intervals spaced out over a longer period of time than the time in which the recordings will be played back. Time-Lapsed Imaging,Imaging, Time-Lapse,Imaging, Time-Lapsed,Time Lapse Imaging,Time Lapsed Imaging

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