The analysis of yeast cell morphology features in exponential and stationary phase

The use of automated microscopes, combined with digital image analysis, is an increasingly important way of high-throughput phenotype analysis of biological systems. We have developed a new method of measuring the basic morphological features of budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) cells. Using this method we have performed investigation on four deletant strains: YLR371w, YDR349c, YLR192c, and YDR414c. These investigations demonstrate that our robotics and image analysis software provide an efficient way to automatically obtain quantitative morphology features of yeast cells. The results show that statistically significant morphological differences can be identified between strains, and that these differences vary by growth stage. © 2011 World Scientific Publishing Company.