Fly-QMA is part of the NU FlyEye platform for quantitative analysis of Drosophila imaginal discs. The package enables Quantitative Mosaic Analysis (QMA) - that is, it helps users quantify and analyze expression patterns in mosaic tissues.
Expression patterns are typically identified by comparing the intensities of fluorescent reporters between groups of cells. Fly-QMA uses computer vision to quantify these differences in reporter expression by inferring them from microscope images. The measurements may then used to detect and analyze spatial patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Given microscopy data, Fly-QMA facilitates:
- Automated detection of cell nuclei
- Automated measurement of reporter expression levels
- Automated bleedthrough control for enhanced measurement accuracy
- Automated annotation of clonal patch patterns
- Statistical analysis of expression levels and tissue morphology
Please visit the Fly-QMA homepage for tips on getting started with your own data.
Installing Fly-QMA is easy. Set up a working environment running Python 3.6+, then install via pip:
pip install flyqma
See the Fly-QMA tutorial.
For examples of complete projects utilizing Fly-QMA and the entire NU FlyEye platform, check out:
- Our Fly-QMA manuscript
- Our study of Pnt and Yan expression during retinal patterning in Drosophila.