Analysis Of Chromosome Morphology
LEVAN (Sakamoto & Zacaro, 2009) is a ROImanager like plugin which enables the first imput for karyotype description and idiogram elaboration using relative lenght data. LEVAN is an analysis plugin for ImageJ, an open-source multi-plataform software for Image Processing and Analysis in Java developed by W. Rasband at National Institutes of Health, NIH, USA (Rasband, 1997-2012; Abramoff et al., 2004).
LEVAN classifies the chromosomal morphology of meiotic (bivalents and univalents) or mitotic metaphase chromosomes in digital images. The morphological criterion of the plugin is a modification of the criteria described by Levan et al. (1964) and Green & Sessions (1991).
The first two requirements to use LEVAN are download and install ImageJ. Then, download and install LEVAN. A comparative table showing equivalence of the considered criteria for morphological nomenclature of chromosomes, step by step instructions for LEVAN installation and examples can be found here.
References
– Abramoff, M.D., Magalhaes, P.J., Ram, S.J. “Image Processing with ImageJ”. Biophotonics International, v.11, n.7, p.36-42, 2004.
– Green, D. M. and Sessions, S. K. Amphibian cytogenetics and evolution. In Appendix I, Nomenclature for chromosomes. Academic Press, Inc., USA, p.431-432, 1991.
– Levan, A., Fredga, K., Sandberg, A. A. Nomenclature for centromeric position on chromossomes. Hereditas, v.52, p.201-220, 1964.
– Rasband, W.S. ImageJ, U. S. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA, http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/, 1997-2012.
– Sakamoto, Y. and Zacaro, A. A. LEVAN, an ImageJ plugin for morphological cytogenetic analysis of mitotic and meiotic chromosomes. Initial version. An open source Java plugin distributed over the Internet from http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij/, 2009.