wrmXpress: A modular package for high-throughput image analysis of parasitic and free-living worms

Abstract

Advances in high-throughput and high-content imaging technologies require concomitant development of analytical software capable of handling large datasets and generating rele-vant phenotypic measurements. Several tools have been developed to analyze drug response phenotypes in parasitic and free-living worms, but these are siloed and often limited to specific instrumentation, worm species, and single phenotypes. No unified tool exists to analyze diverse high-content phenotypic imaging data of worms and provide a platform for future extensibility. We have developed wrmXpress, a unified framework for analyzing a variety of phenotypes matched to high-content experimental assays of free-living and parasitic nematodes and flatworms. We demonstrate its utility for analyzing a suite of pheno-types, including motility, development/size, fecundity, and feeding, and establish the package as a platform upon which to build future custom phenotypic modules. We show that wrmXpress can serve as an analytical workhorse for anthelmintic screening efforts across schistosomes, filarial nematodes, and free-living model nematodes and holds prom-ise for enabling collaboration among investigators with diverse interests.