Using standard positions and image fusion to create proteome maps from collections of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis images

Databases for two-dimensional protein gels pose new challenges in extracting meaningful information from large numbers of experiments. In order to create expression profiles, positions of corresponding protein spots across all gel images have to be established. In larger gel sets errors may accumulate rapidly during this spot matching process, effectively limiting the number of samples available for data mining. Here we present a novel approach for organizing spot data based on the concept of a standard position for a protein species. Standard positions are meaningful average positions that are determined using all occurrences of a protein species. They can be extended to spots that are not annotated via interpolation. The standard position of a spot can serve as a unifying index across all gels in a database, thus allowing creation and analysis of expression profiles that span the whole collection. The standard position gives a much more accurate estimation of a spot's position on a gel than can be obtained using theoretical isoelectric point and molecular weight. Positional indexing is a complement to a priori identifications (e.g. by mass spectrometry or Edman degradation). Moreover it can be used in advance to select spots that are worth identifying because they show relevant expression profiles. Furthermore, we show how to combine all spots that occur on any of the gels into one synthetic but nevertheless realistic-looking image. This composite image is produced such that all spots have their standard positions. It can serve as a proteome reference map for an organism. As an application, we have computed a reference map from 23 gel images of Bacillus subtilis, using an enhanced prerelease version of the gel analysis software Delta2D (DECODON, Greifswald, Germany).