Studies of biological objects like yeast cells are usually complicated due to seemingly unpredictable changes in various properties of the living organisms. This study represents an attempt to show how various time dependent properties of yeast can be captured and precisely quantified by modern image analysis methods. During the course of this study, various complications which had been anticipated were encountered and resolved. As each strain differs by various properties like average size, shape, and cellular membrane thickness, the necessary adjustments to data capture and processing for automated data analysis were the biggest complication encountered. The study successfully shows the applicability of the chosen method of image analysis to various shapes of yeast, with cell shapes varying from elliptical, cylindrical citrical, tube-shaped, to oblong. The yeast properties' quantification was based on calculated fractal dimension and fractal measure of the studied strains. The information about speed of growth of the colony as well as about the changes occurring within individual cells was correlated to the change of the fractal parameters in the captured images of the yeast. The studied parameters were: growth of the cells, changes in the thickness of the cellular wall, number of cells present in the sample, and changes in the shape of the cells. Samples were probed with a Nikon Eclipse E400 optical microscope and a Nikon Eclipse E200 optical microscope with phase contrast. HarFA 5.1 (Harmonic and Fractal Image Analyzer) (HarFA) software was used for processing the obtained images. Custom developed HarFA software is designed to facilitate fractal image analysis.
K. Tomankova, P. Jerabkova, O. Zmeskal, M. Vesela, J. Haderka, "Use of Image Analysis to Study Growth and Division of Yeast Cells" in Journal of Imaging Science and Technology, 2006, pp 583 - 589, https://doi.org/10.2352/J.ImagingSci.Technol.(2006)50:6(583)