AN AUTOMATIC IMAGE-ANALYSIS SYSTEM FOR RLGS FILMS

The RLGS (Restriction Landmark Genome Scanning) method was originally developed as a powerful method for enabling viewing of thousands of re striction landmarks. It offers a tool for obtaining information about genetic loci, with a single RLGS profile displaying approximately 2000 restriction landmarks as spots. One of the most useful applications i s RLGS spot mapping, which allows the efficient, low-cost construction of the genetic map of any organism. However, analyses of the profiles depend mainly on human visual observation and are tedious and laborio us. Although several commercially available image analyzing systems fo r profile comparison have been examined, they cannot be used for the R LGS spot mapping system owing to the background characteristics of the RLGS profiles, unsatisfactory rates of correspondence, and inefficien t correction of informative genetic data. We therefore developed a nov el automatic image analysis system for RLGS spot mapping, using an ori ginal algorithm based on the binary image transferred from the origina l RLGS profile. This system was employed for identifying nonpolymorphi c and parental strain-specific polymorphic spots of the F-1 mouse prof ile and yielded efficient initial screening of RLGS profiles.