A program which automatically quantitates gel electrophoretic autoradiograms.

The use of a computer-coupled film scanner to measure and analyze autoradiograms of gel electropherograms is described. A program has been written which fits Gaussian curves to the complex band pattern that constitutes a density profile without the need for estimated parameters in the input. The great majority of the fits are satisfactory. This program, which is written in FORTRAN, runs on a small, inexpensive computer. Another program which approximates a Gaussian least squares fit has been run for comparison; this procedure can also be used to refine occasional unsatisfactory fits. Finally, a program has been written which sums the density profile within specified limits, so that the integrated intensities of bands due to isolated protein components may be found.