Image Analysis for Sliding Motility of Clostridium perfringens

The research investigates the sliding motility of Clostridium perfringens by employing machine learning-based image segmentation techniques and tracking to extract key quantitative characteristics of the movement of the bacteria. C. perfringens cells maintain end-to-end connections after cell divisions and form elongated chains that expand in a one-dimensional fashion. Cells in the elongating chains are pushed by each other to achieve a sliding movement at potentially high speeds. However, these chains are susceptible to breakage due to stress accumulation from rapid growth, which would undermine efficiency of the passive sliding motility. Utilizing AI-powered image analysis, this research aims to obtain detailed quantification of these dynamics and generate data for future mechanistic studies of the sliding motility. Results from this work highlight the effectiveness of machine learning in detecting individual cells from microscopy images. The accurately segmented cells enable enhanced tracking and detailed analysis of bacterial motility. The results generate useful quantitative data such as growth rate, velocity, and division frequency of C. perfringens.