Automated Optimization of Bacterial Tracking Pipelines With TrackMate 8
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
Quantitative analysis of bacterial dynamics in time-lapse microscopy requires robust tracking pipelines, yet selecting and optimizing algorithms for specific experiments remains challenging. Indeed, microbiologists are confronted with numerous algorithms that must be carefully chosen and parameterized to achieve optimal tracking for their experiments. We present an automated methodology to determine optimal tracking configurations for microbiological applications. It is based on TrackMate 8, a novel version of the TrackMate Fiji plugin extended with microbiology-specific tools. Our approach systematically evaluates algorithm-parameter combinations optimizing biologically relevant metrics (e.g., cell-cycle accuracy, bacterial morphology) and includes: (1) integration of deep-learning algorithms (Omnipose, YOLO, Trackastra) adequate for bacterial images in TrackMate; (2) a TrackMate-Helper extension for parameter optimization; and (3) a tracking and segmentation editor for tracking ground-truth generation. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the methodology on two use cases showing its adaptability to diverse experimental conditions. This methodology enables microbiologists with a widely applicable, automated framework to optimize tracking pipelines, facilitating quantitative analysis in bacterial imaging.
Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e70369 |
| Journal | Current protocols |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 18 May 2026 |
| Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
| PubMed | 42149368 |
|---|---|
| ORCID | /0000-0002-7780-9057/work/217239336 |
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- automated parameter tuning, bacterial tracking, bioimage analysis, cell tracking, live imaging, microbiology image analysis, microscopy