Abstract
BACKGROUND: One important aspect of cellular function, which is at the basis of tissue homeostasis, is the delivery of proteins to their correct destinations. Significant advances in live cell microscopy have allowed tracking of these pathways by following the dynamics of fluorescently labelled proteins in living cells. OBJECTIVES: This paper explores intelligent data analysis techniques to model the dynamic behavior of proteins in living cells as well as to classify different experimental conditions. METHODS: We use a combination of decision tree classification and hidden Markov models. In particular, we introduce a novel approach to "align" hidden Markov models so that hidden states from different models can be cross-compared. RESULTS: Our models capture the dynamics of two experimental conditions accurately with a stable hidden state for control data and multiple (less stable) states for the experimental data recapitulating the behaviour of particle trajectories within live cell time-lapse data. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to having successfully developed an automated framework for the classification of protein transport dynamics from live cell time-lapse data our model allows us to understand the dynamics of a complex trafficking pathway in living cells in culture.