Use of distance maps in the segmentation of images from DNA gels

Abstract

DNA gels analysis plays an important role in the genetics ofpopulation and genetic disordersdiagnosis studies. The main purpose ofthis procedure is to determine the size (measured in basepairs) ofeveryfragment, or at leastsome ofthem, ofDNA present in the gel, a process which untilnow, is carried out manually in the Genetics Laboratory ofthe UniversidadIndustrial de Santander.This paper describes a procedure, based on digital image processing techniques, that leads tosegmentation and bands (DNA fragments) detection on the digital image, previously acquired,with the help ofprocedures such as autocorrelation and distance maps estimation. This procedureis a completely new approach to DNA electrophoresis gels analysis; the algorithm is more robustand precise than previous works developed, and it also offers the same (and sometimes better)performance offered by some commercial software evaluated.