Truong Thai V, Supatto Willy
California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology, Beckman Institute, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
Genesis. 2011 Jul;49(7):555-69. doi: 10.1002/dvg.20760. Epub 2011 Jun 24.
In vivo study of embryonic morphogenesis tremendously benefits from recent advances in live microscopy and computational analyses. Quantitative and automated investigation of morphogenetic processes opens the field to high-content and high-throughput strategies. Following experimental workflow currently developed in cell biology, we identify the key challenges for applying such strategies in developmental biology. We review the recent progress in embryo preparation and manipulation, live imaging, data registration, image segmentation, feature computation, and data mining dedicated to the study of embryonic morphogenesis. We discuss a selection of pioneering studies that tackled the current methodological bottlenecks and illustrated the investigation of morphogenetic processes in vivo using quantitative and automated imaging and analysis of hundreds or thousands of cells simultaneously, paving the way for high-content/high-throughput strategies and systems analysis of embryonic morphogenesis.
胚胎形态发生的体内研究极大地受益于活体显微镜技术和计算分析的最新进展。对形态发生过程进行定量和自动化研究为高内涵和高通量策略开辟了道路。遵循细胞生物学目前所开发的实验工作流程，我们确定了在发育生物学中应用此类策略的关键挑战。我们回顾了在胚胎制备与操作、活体成像、数据配准、图像分割、特征计算以及专门用于胚胎形态发生研究的数据挖掘等方面的最新进展。我们讨论了一系列开创性研究，这些研究攻克了当前的方法学瓶颈，并展示了如何通过对数百或数千个细胞进行定量和自动化成像及分析来研究体内的形态发生过程，为胚胎形态发生的高内涵/高通量策略和系统分析铺平了道路。
