Machine vision analysis of C.elegans phenotypic patterns

描述（由申请人提供）：线虫C.秀丽线虫具有强大的遗传学、被充分描述的神经系统和完整的基因组序列;因此，它非常适合在分子和细胞水平上分析行为和发育。特别是，功能映射特定基因的影响，以特定的行为后果的能力，使得有可能使用遗传分析功能解剖的神经系统功能的知之甚少方面的分子机制。然而，许多在神经元功能中起关键作用的基因对行为的影响对一个不经意的观察者来说似乎非常微妙或难以精确描述。因此，要充分发挥C.对于神经系统功能的遗传分析，有必要开发复杂的方法来快速和一致地定量突变表型，特别是与行为相关的突变表型。 这项工作的目标是开发计算机视觉工具，用于定量表征C.优雅通过精确地表征具有异常运动或产卵的突变体的行为表型，这些工具将特别有助于将特定的神经传递缺陷与特征行为模式相关联。这些分析工具还将用于生成包含大量突变菌株的复杂行为数据的综合数据库。该数据库将使人们有可能确定对行为或发育具有类似影响的突变体和药物治疗组。随着已知突变体的表型数据的积累，最终应该有可能记录未知突变体或药物治疗的动物，并对未表征基因的功能和未表征药物的靶点做出有根据的初步假设。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The nematode C. elegans has powerful genetics, a well-described nervous system, and a complete genome sequence; thus, it is well suited to analysis of behavior and development at the molecular and cellular levels. In particular, the ability to functionally map the influence of particular genes to specific behavioral consequences makes it possible to use genetic analysis to functionally dissect the molecular mechanisms underlying poorly understood aspects of nervous system function. However, many genes with critical roles in neuronal function have effects on behavior that to a casual observer appear very subtle or difficult to describe precisely. Therefore, to fully realize the potential of C. elegans for the genetic analysis of nervous system function, it is necessary to develop sophisticated methods for the rapid and consistent quantitation of mutant phenotypes, especially those related to behavior. The goal of this proposed work is to develop computer vision tools for quantitatively characterizing the phenotypic patterns caused by mutations or pharmacological treatments in C. elegans. By making it possible to precisely characterize the behavioral phenotypes of mutants with abnormal locomotion or egglaying, these tools will be particularly useful for correlating specific neurotransmission defects with characteristic behavioral patterns. These analytical tools will also be used to generate a comprehensive database containing complex behavioral data on a large set of mutant strains. This database will make it possible to identify groups of mutants and pharmacological treatments that have similar effects on behavior or development. With the accumulation of increasing phenotypic data on known mutants, it should ultimately be possible to record from unknown mutant or drug-treated animals and make informed initial hypotheses about the functions of uncharacterized genes and the targets of uncharacterized drugs.