A new algorithm for the simulation of SDS 2D-PAGE datasets

This chapter describes a new software for the generation of simulated realistic sodium dodecyl sulfate two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS 2D-PAGE) images. In order to choose the simulation strategy to provide realistic 2D-PAGE maps the statistical characteristics of such images were taken into account, such as the distributions of sizes, intensities, and volumes of the spots. Also, the low reproducibility typical of replicated SDS 2D-PAGE maps of the same sample was simulated. This approach can be used to generate simulated datasets useful in the development and performance evaluation of new classification and/or image analysis algorithms applied to two-dimensional electrophoresis datasets, given the usually small number of experimental replications available.