Analysis of the spatial organization of the cell: a statistical method for revealing the non-random location of an organelle.

A method is proposed for testing the randomness of the location of an organelle within a given area of a cell section. The approach chosen is to analyse the distance between this organelle and a specific point considered as a point of reference. The method consists of converting this distance into the ratio of one given area to another and comparing the statistical distribution of the converted values to the uniform distribution. This method has the advantage of being valid in the absence of any restrictive assumptions concerning the heterogeneity in size and/or shape of the collection of sections sampled. Detailed examples are given to illustrate the practical use of the method, and its possible extensions are discussed.