WormGender

WormGender quantifies sex ratios in Caenorhabditis elegans populations by automated identification and counting of adult hermaphrodites and males for quantitative genetic and phenotypic analysis.

Key Features:

• Automatic recognition and counting: Automated identification and counting of adult hermaphrodites and males in Caenorhabditis elegans populations.
• Quantitative sex-ratio measurement: Computes population-level sex ratios from image-based counts for quantitative phenotype assessment.
• Manual inspection: Provides manual inspection and correction of automated classifications to improve accuracy.
• Adaptability through training images: Accepts user-supplied training images to adapt classification to different imaging conditions.

Scientific Applications:

• Him phenotype screening: Quantified incidence of male (him) phenotypes across 27 C. elegans mutant strains and identified significant him phenotypes in mutants of brc-1, C30G12.6, cep-1, coh-3, him-3, him-5, him-8, skr-1, and unc-86.
• Genetic and developmental research: Supports genetic, developmental, and neurobiological studies in C. elegans by enabling rapid, quantitative assessment of population sex ratios.
• High-throughput phenotypic analyses: Enables processing of large datasets for high-throughput quantitative phenotype analysis.

Methodology:

Automated image-based recognition and counting of adult hermaphrodites and males, optional manual inspection and correction, use of user-supplied training images for classifier adaptation, and performance evaluation by comparison of automated sex-ratio assessments with manual evaluations.