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| Author(s): |
Bruno Augusto Nassif Travençolo
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Matemática e Estatística (IME/SBI) |
| Defense date: | 2007-12-20 |
| Examining board members: |
Luciano da Fontoura Costa;
Aparecido Nilceu Marana;
Nance Beyer Nardi;
Gonzalo Travieso;
Lucile Maria Floeter Winter
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| Advisor: | Luciano da Fontoura Costa; Marcelo Emílio Beletti |
| Abstract | |
The areas of cell and molecular biology have accumulated a large number of experimental facts, such as genomic sequences and protein structure. However, this is not sufficient to the understanding of biological systems, even to explain the intricate dynamical interactions between gene expression and anatomical development. In order to characterize and analyze the complexity of the interactions between the genotypes and phenotypes, it is necessary to make use of methods and tools that allow the confrontation between spatio-temporal gene expression and changes in developing anatomy. In this context, the present work proposes a set of computational methods that, based on images containing anatomical and/or gene expression information in two and three dimensions, allow the identification of different geometrical properties in biological samples, so as to characterize and analyze the relationship between anatomy and gene expression. The development of these methods includes intensive use of techniques from image processing and computer visualization. In particular, four geometrical properties are described here: gradient, symmetry, distance and spatial organization. The potential of the proposed methods is illustrated in the analysis of various problems, involving different biological issues and species, including: gene expression and morphological characterization of the heart development in Zebrafish (Danio rerio); morphological characterization of the development of the parasite Echinococcus granulosus; and the analysis of the morphological damage in the retina of the fish Hoplias malabaricus caused by mercurial intoxication. The results obtained in these analyses allowed to infer and describe important proprieties with respect to development, morphology and gene expression patterns of these biological systems. Overall, it is shown that the use of computational methods to identify and analyze, from 2D and 3D images, the spatial patterns of gene expression and its relationship with the morphological development, is becoming an increasingly important tool for the study of the development, providing valuable information about the biological function and interactions among genes. (AU) | |