Title: Cell-level 3D reconstruction and quantification of the Drosophila wing imaginal disc

Authors: David E. Breen; Liyuan Sui; Linge Bai; Frank Jülicher; Christian Dahmann

Addresses: Department of Computer Science, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA ' Department of Biology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany ' Department of Computer Science, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA ' Department of Biological Physics, Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany ' Department of Biology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

Abstract: We describe a set of techniques that, when applied to a 3D stack of confocal microscopy images, produces a volumetric model of an epithelial tissue as well as a mesh model of its apicolateral cell boundaries. Via a projection step, detailed 3D models that approximate the individual cells in the epithelium are then defined. Once the individual cells are generated, their apical face area, height and volume may be computed and visualised, providing quantitative and visual data about the patterns of cells within the tissue. We have applied the techniques to the analysis of the developing wing imaginal disc of a late-larval Drosophila melanogaster. Our techniques are being applied to a series of specimens in an investigation that intends to quantitatively substantiate observed cell shape changes that occur during wing imaginal disc development.

Keywords: biomedical image informatics; cell shape change; developmental biology; epithelial tissues; implicit models; reconstruction; visualisation; wing imaginal disc.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBRA.2019.099577

International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications, 2019 Vol.15 No.2, pp.174 - 189

Received: 15 Aug 2016
Accepted: 30 Jan 2017
Published online: 13 May 2019 *

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