Some extensions to the GELLAB two-dimensional electrophoretic gel analysis system.

Several important extensions to the GELLAB 2D electrophoresis gel analysis system are discussed, including concepts that lead to the generation of consistent gel maps for a particular cell line, as illustrated by some recent results for the P388D1 cell system, GELLAB is an interactive graphics computer system that facilitates (a) image accessioning, (b) spot-data extraction from the image with position and density quantitation, (c) pairing of corresponding spots between gels, and (d) spot analysis for a large number of corresponding spots (over 3000 per gel) for up to 128 gels. Multiple gels are accessioned into the system used to create a composite gel data base. These then may be partitioned into multiple classes of gels and searched for statistically significant interclass spot differences, which can be visualized in reference map images of selected spot sets as well as mosaic images of particular spots in all gels. In addition to the visual feedback that is available during the gel analysis, various statistical, numerical, and other displays may be generated in the CGELP interactive program of the GELLAB system.