%0 Journal Article %1 Rosser2013 %A Rosser, Gabriel %A Fletcher, Alexander G. %A Wilkinson, David A. %A de Beyer, Jennifer A. %A Yates, Christian A. %A Armitage, Judith P. %A Maini, Philip K. %A Baker, Ruth E. %D 2013 %I Public Library of Science %J PLoS Comput Biol %K bacteria imageprocessing tracking %N 10 %P e1003276 %R 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003276 %T Novel Methods for Analysing Bacterial Tracks Reveal Persistence in Rhodobacter sphaeroides %U http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1003276 %V 9 %X Many species of planktonic bacteria are able to propel themselves through a liquid medium by the use of one or more helical flagella. Commonly, the observed motile behaviour consists of a series of approximately straight-line movements, interspersed with random, approximately stationary, reorientation events. This phenomenon is of current interest as it is known to be linked to important bacterial processes such as pathogenicity and biofilm formation. An accepted experimental approach for studying bacterial motility in approximately indigenous conditions is the tracking of cells using a microscope. However, there are currently no validated methods for the analysis of such tracking data. In particular, the identification of reorientation phases, which is complicated by various sources of noise in the data, remains an open challenge. In this paper we present novel methods for analysing large bacterial tracking datasets. We assess the performance of our new methods using computational simulations, and show that they are more reliable than a previously published method. We proceed to analyse previously unpublished tracks from the bacterial species <italic>Rhodobacter sphaeroides</italic>, an emerging model organism in the field of bacterial motility, and <italic>Escherichia coli</italic>, a well-studied model bacterium. The analysis demonstrates the novel result that <italic>R. sphaeroides</italic> exhibits directional persistence over the course of a reorientation event.

@article{Rosser2013, abstract = {Many species of planktonic bacteria are able to propel themselves through a liquid medium by the use of one or more helical flagella. Commonly, the observed motile behaviour consists of a series of approximately straight-line movements, interspersed with random, approximately stationary, reorientation events. This phenomenon is of current interest as it is known to be linked to important bacterial processes such as pathogenicity and biofilm formation. An accepted experimental approach for studying bacterial motility in approximately indigenous conditions is the tracking of cells using a microscope. However, there are currently no validated methods for the analysis of such tracking data. In particular, the identification of reorientation phases, which is complicated by various sources of noise in the data, remains an open challenge. In this paper we present novel methods for analysing large bacterial tracking datasets. We assess the performance of our new methods using computational simulations, and show that they are more reliable than a previously published method. We proceed to analyse previously unpublished tracks from the bacterial species <italic>Rhodobacter sphaeroides</italic>, an emerging model organism in the field of bacterial motility, and <italic>Escherichia coli</italic>, a well-studied model bacterium. The analysis demonstrates the novel result that <italic>R. sphaeroides</italic> exhibits directional persistence over the course of a reorientation event.}, added-at = {2014-02-27T16:11:32.000+0100}, author = {Rosser, Gabriel and Fletcher, Alexander G. and Wilkinson, David A. and de Beyer, Jennifer A. and Yates, Christian A. and Armitage, Judith P. and Maini, Philip K. and Baker, Ruth E.}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/25544745886246ff636a2c661c0b42494/quantentunnel}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003276}, file = {Rosser2013.pdf:Artikel/Rosser2013.pdf:PDF}, groups = {public}, interhash = {2732cea8a0533071e18f8fa8daf388f8}, intrahash = {5544745886246ff636a2c661c0b42494}, journal = {PLoS Comput Biol}, keywords = {bacteria imageprocessing tracking}, month = {10}, number = 10, pages = {e1003276}, publisher = {Public Library of Science}, timestamp = {2014-05-23T15:13:05.000+0200}, title = {Novel Methods for Analysing Bacterial Tracks Reveal Persistence in Rhodobacter sphaeroides}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1003276}, username = {quantentunnel}, volume = 9, year = 2013 }