Using machine vision to track Drosophila melanogaster for genetic behavioral studies.

摘要

Using Drosophila melanogaster (commonly known as the fruit fly) as a model, a high-throughput screening device (Automated Fly Tracking (AFT) System) was developed to track locomotion in two dimensions. This system was designed to perform functional screens on locomotor behavior of mutant fly lines and enable the identification of candidate genes modulating neurological and/or motor function. A high-resolution camera and a custom designed fly plate track activity in two dimensions with six different parameters: distance traveled, radial position, average velocity, path walked, average velocity distribution per fly, and time spent in each region of the plate. The system utilizes machine vision and image processing techniques to track movements of 24 individual flies with 93 percent accuracy. In a preliminary screen of 55 gene mutations randomly selected from a bioinformatics analysis of Drosophila lines with mapped insertions disrupting only one gene, ten gene mutations were identified as influencing locomotor activity based on their performance in the six locomotor parameters. Each of the mutations had increased performance in each parameter in comparison to a control line, w1118. The gene mutation, 17108, correlated to the commonly used Drosophila Activity Monitoring System at the Molecular Pharmacology Research Center at Tufts New England Medical Center confirming this mutation to modulate locomotor activity. The influence of age on locomotor activity was also studied and established that very young Drosophila (1 day old) had drastically less locomotor activity when compared with older Drosophila (4 and 14+ day old).