Information Technology of Color Imaging Assessment of Saccharomyces cerevisiae UCM Y-517 Yeast Volutin Granules
The research is devoted to the development of color imaging information technology, which is relevant for evaluating the results of cytochemical research in both biology and medicine. The aim of this work was to study the validity of software algorithms and integrated information technology for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of metachromasia reaction of volutin granules of Saccharomyces cerevisiae UCM Y-517 yeast. Methods. The object of this study was Saccharomyces cerevisiae UCM Y-517 yeast from the Ukrainian collection of microorganisms. The yeast was cultivated for 24 hours at 28oC. The metachromatic reaction of volutin granules was detected microscopically by the preparation of yeast cells stained with methylene blue. Digital images of cells were transferred to a specialized web resource for computer processing. Results. The algorithm of computer analysis of images included 3 steps: (1) recognition of single volutin granules, (2) assessment of the magnitude of metachromasia for each granule, and (3) integral estimation of the magnitude of metachromasia for the whole image. Information technology was developed and tested to support the daily monitoring of the metachromasia phenomenon, including obtaining the digital images, their transfer to a remote server, and automatic processing. Information technology is integrated into the web portal of the large-scale biophysical experiment “Heliomed”. Conclusions. The proposed method of computer image processing gave a quantitative and qualitative assessment in the automatic mode of metachromatic staining of volutin granules and confirmed the previously proposed classification of this phenomenon on the basis of visual examination.