Actin tail detection in fluorescence microscopic image sequences to investigate the cause of movement of subviral particles

The subviral particles of the Marburg virus occasionally show an actin tail along their travelled path. This actin tail is detected by an algorithm to facilitate further examined of actin-based movement. Using fluorescence image sequences and the coordinates of the particle tracks, the average brightnesses can be measured within 9 examination areas around the subviral particle. The measured actin brightness is set into relation to the temporal subviral particle's velocity. The results show that it is possible to find temporal correlations between actin intensity and particle speed using the presented method. However, still the method is sensitive to interfering factors.