基于骨架化模型的染色体形态表征

Morphological characterization of chromosomes based on skeleton model

染色体作为遗传物质的重要载体,其空间构象(主要指染色体数量、结构、定位等形态信息)与包括基因表达、表观遗传在内的一些基本的细胞生命活动关联紧密。染色体形态改变是引起人类某些重大疾病(如唐氏综合症、恶性肿瘤等)的重要原因之一。为实现染色体形态的准确、量化分析,针对光学成像设备采集染色体图像含冗杂信息过多的问题,基于骨架化理论,通过二值转换及距离变换等计算方法,抽取染色体的拓扑结构,以减少冗余信息。进一步,提出利用骨架长度、端粒数目及着丝粒分界比,数字化表征染色体的拓扑形态。因此,利用自动化手段建立了一种量化表征染色体形态信息的方法,这将为染色体识别及形态研究提供重要思路。

Chromosome is the important carrier of genetic material,the spatial configuration(namely chromosomal numbers,structure and localization)of which has a close link with the fundamental biological processes in cell such as gene expression and epigenetic inheritance.Chromosomal morphology aberrations are related to the serious disease(such as down's syndrome,malignant tumor)which threaten human health.To realize the accurate and quantitative analysis of chromosomal morphologies,this work extracted the topology structure of chromosomes based on the skeletonization theory of binary image conversion and distance transform,to overcome the problem of too much miscellaneous information caused by optical imaging equipment.Further,topological morphology of chromosomes was quantitatively characterized by skeleton length,telomere number and centromere boundary ratio.Based on the automation,this paper established a method of quantitatively characterizing the chromosomal morphology,and this paper will provide important thought for chromosome recognition and morphological study.