Computer analysis of two-dimensional gels: semi-automatic matching.

We describe a computer program system for finding, quantitating, and matching the protein spots resolved on a two-dimensional electropherogram. The programs that locate and quantitate the incorporation of radioactivity into individual spots are totally automatic, as are the programs for matching protein spots between two exposures of the same gel. A semi-automatic method is used to match protein spots between different gels. This procedure is quite fast with the use of a computer-graphic display, which is also helpful in the editing process. A data base is set up and programs have been written to correlate matched protein spots from multi-gel experiments and to efficiently plot out quantitative data from sequences of equivalent spots from many gels or even many multi-gel experiments. The practical use of this system is discussed.