SmartVectors™ is a technology for automatically identifying
correspondences between spot patterns on 2D electrophoresis gels. With
its ease of use and robustness it sets the new standard for performace
in 2D gel image analysis.
Dual
channel image with match vectors found automatically by Delta2D.
Dual
channel image after warping
according to the automatically determined vectors.
Delta2D's SmartVectors™ technology uses
advanced image processing algorithms to analyze
and match whole image
regions. The result is expressed as a set of match vectors that connect
corresponding spots. In most
gel regions these
correspondences are perfect, and it is easy to verify them by using
warping
and
dual channel images.
SmartVectors™ advantages:
Speed:
minimizes hands-on time, overall process is several times faster than
the previous approach
(Delta2D 3.3 with automatic warp).
Robustness:
works for similar as well as for
very dissimilar spot
patterns, will
only propose vectors where correspondence is highly likely.
Intuitive
operation: results are easily verified
using dual channel images.
Easy editing:
results can be
adjusted anytime by correcting automatic vectors or setting
new vectors.
SmartVectors™ Screencast
See SmartVectors™ in action on your own gel images
Perhaps the easiest way to see how SmartVectors™ work on your
own
images is to arrange an interactive web demo. All you need is a PC with
an internet connection and a phone. You upload your images to our
website and we show you live how they are warped in Delta2D. Arrange
a web demo now.
With the evaluation version of Delta2D you can try out
everything on
your own gel images. The evaluation version is save disabled and
watermarked, but otherwise fully functional. Download
Delta2D evaluation now.
Background:
Why warping is important for 2D gel image analysis
If you are used to classical 2D gel analysis packages, you
might
know
those long and tedious editing sessions for spot matches and spot
boundaries that were found "automatically" by the software.
Most of the difficulties you face with those packages stem from the
fact that proteins will migrate to slightly different positions on
different gels. Delta2D's image
warping eliminates these running
differences between 2D gel images. DECODON pioneered the use of image
warping in 2D gel analysis with the release of Delta2D version 1 in
2000.
Here you see a combined image that is made from two gels. One
is colored in orange, the other one in blue. In the dual channel image
without warping it is hard to find corresponding spots and do
comparisons of expression patterns.
Two
gel images, overlaid into a dual channel image, not warped.
Two
gel images,
overlaid into a dual channel image, after warping. Differences in
expression levels are clearly visible. Warping allows Delta2D to assign
coresponding image positions across a whole set of images.
Gel
image with overlaid grid.
The
same gel image after warping.
After the warping, the dual channel
image gives valuable insight for comparing the spot patterns
qualitatively. Black
means that spots have roughly the same intensity on both images. Blue
means a spot is much stronger on gel A, orange means it is much
stronger on gel B.
But the advantages of warping go far beyond the making of dual
channel images. The effect of applying image warping is as if you had
made perfect 2D gels: those would have all proteins migrating exactly
to the same position. And because Delta2D knows about pixel-by-pixel
correspondences between images, other core technologies are enabled:
100%
Spot Matching delivers higher statistical confidence
for the analysis of expression profiles
Image
Fusion lets you combine multiple images to produce, for
example average images
Proteome
Maps for protein identifications use union fusion
images
Analysis of Expression profiles with spot color coding
combines image fusion and 100% spot matching
