TY  - JOUR
TI  - TRACES: a Freely Accessible, Semi-automated Pipeline for Detection, Tracking, and Quantification of Fluorescently Labeled Cellular Structures
AU  - Jiang, Xueer 
AU  - Jiang, Linhao 
AU  - Jao, Li- En
VL  - 12
IS  - 15
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/08/05
SP  - e4479
C1  - Bio-protocol 2022;12:e4479
DO  - 10.21769/BioProtoc.4479
UR  - https://doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.4479
AB  - Subcellular structures exhibit diverse behaviors in different cellular processes, including changes in morphology, abundance, and relative spatial distribution. Faithfully tracking and quantifying these changes are essential to understand their functions. However, most freely accessible methods lack integrated features for tracking multiple objects in different spectral channels simultaneously. To overcome these limitations, we have developed TRACES (Tracking of Active Cellular Structures), a customizable and open-source pipeline capable of detecting, tracking, and quantifying fluorescently labeled cellular structures in up to three spectral channels simultaneously at single-cell level. Here, we detail step-by-step instructions for performing the TRACES pipeline, including image acquisition and segmentation, object identification and tracking, and data quantification and visualization. We believe that TRACES will be a valuable tool for cell biologists, enabling them to track and measure the spatiotemporal dynamics of subcellular structures in a robust and semi-automated manner.
KW  - Particle tracking
KW  - Quantitative image analysis
KW  - Subcellular structures
KW  - Live-cell imaging
KW  - Python
KW  - Phase separation
KW  - Condensate
KW  - Centrosome
JF  - Bio-protocol
SN  - 2331-8325
PB  - Bio-protocol LLC.
BIO101  - False