Absolute direction in organelle movement

Abstract In movement analysis, correlated random walk (CRW) models often use so‐called turning angles, which are measured relative to the previous movement direction. To segregate between different movement modes, hidden Markov models (HMMs) describe movements as piecewise stationary CRWs in which t...

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Main Authors: Solveig Plomer, Annika Meyer, Philipp Gebhardt, Theresa Ernst, Enrico Schleiff, Gaby Schneider
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024-08-01
Series:Ecology and Evolution
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70092
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author Solveig Plomer
Annika Meyer
Philipp Gebhardt
Theresa Ernst
Enrico Schleiff
Gaby Schneider
author_facet Solveig Plomer
Annika Meyer
Philipp Gebhardt
Theresa Ernst
Enrico Schleiff
Gaby Schneider
author_sort Solveig Plomer
collection DOAJ
description Abstract In movement analysis, correlated random walk (CRW) models often use so‐called turning angles, which are measured relative to the previous movement direction. To segregate between different movement modes, hidden Markov models (HMMs) describe movements as piecewise stationary CRWs in which the distributions of turning angles and step sizes depend on the underlying state. This typically allows for the segregation of movement modes that show different movement speeds. We show that in some cases, it may be interesting to investigate absolute angles, that is, biased random walks (BRWs) instead of turning angles. In particular, while discrimination between states in the turning angle setting can only rely on movement speed, models with absolute angles can be used to discriminate between sections of different movement directions. A preprocessing algorithm is provided that enables the analysis of absolute angles in the existing R package moveHMM. In a data set of movements of cell organelles, models using not the turning angle but the absolute angle could capture interesting additional properties. Goodness‐of‐fit was increased for HMMs with absolute angles, and HMMs with absolute angles tended to choose a higher number of states, suggesting the existence and relevance of prominent directional changes in the present data set. These results suggest that models with absolute angles can provide important information in the analysis of movement patterns if the existence and frequency of directional changes is of biological importance.
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spelling doaj-art-a7701e27d0e94466b8075a71f88a0eca2025-08-20T01:55:49ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582024-08-01148n/an/a10.1002/ece3.70092Absolute direction in organelle movementSolveig Plomer0Annika Meyer1Philipp Gebhardt2Theresa Ernst3Enrico Schleiff4Gaby Schneider5Institute of Mathematics Goethe University Frankfurt Frankfurt GermanyInstitute of Mathematics Goethe University Frankfurt Frankfurt GermanyFaculty of Biological Sciences Goethe University Frankfurt Frankfurt GermanyFaculty of Biological Sciences Goethe University Frankfurt Frankfurt GermanyFaculty of Biological Sciences Goethe University Frankfurt Frankfurt GermanyInstitute of Mathematics Goethe University Frankfurt Frankfurt GermanyAbstract In movement analysis, correlated random walk (CRW) models often use so‐called turning angles, which are measured relative to the previous movement direction. To segregate between different movement modes, hidden Markov models (HMMs) describe movements as piecewise stationary CRWs in which the distributions of turning angles and step sizes depend on the underlying state. This typically allows for the segregation of movement modes that show different movement speeds. We show that in some cases, it may be interesting to investigate absolute angles, that is, biased random walks (BRWs) instead of turning angles. In particular, while discrimination between states in the turning angle setting can only rely on movement speed, models with absolute angles can be used to discriminate between sections of different movement directions. A preprocessing algorithm is provided that enables the analysis of absolute angles in the existing R package moveHMM. In a data set of movements of cell organelles, models using not the turning angle but the absolute angle could capture interesting additional properties. Goodness‐of‐fit was increased for HMMs with absolute angles, and HMMs with absolute angles tended to choose a higher number of states, suggesting the existence and relevance of prominent directional changes in the present data set. These results suggest that models with absolute angles can provide important information in the analysis of movement patterns if the existence and frequency of directional changes is of biological importance.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70092absolute anglebiased random walkcorrelated random walkhidden Markov modelmovement analysisturning angle
spellingShingle Solveig Plomer
Annika Meyer
Philipp Gebhardt
Theresa Ernst
Enrico Schleiff
Gaby Schneider
Absolute direction in organelle movement
Ecology and Evolution
absolute angle
biased random walk
correlated random walk
hidden Markov model
movement analysis
turning angle
title Absolute direction in organelle movement
title_full Absolute direction in organelle movement
title_fullStr Absolute direction in organelle movement
title_full_unstemmed Absolute direction in organelle movement
title_short Absolute direction in organelle movement
title_sort absolute direction in organelle movement
topic absolute angle
biased random walk
correlated random walk
hidden Markov model
movement analysis
turning angle
url https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70092
work_keys_str_mv AT solveigplomer absolutedirectioninorganellemovement
AT annikameyer absolutedirectioninorganellemovement
AT philippgebhardt absolutedirectioninorganellemovement
AT theresaernst absolutedirectioninorganellemovement
AT enricoschleiff absolutedirectioninorganellemovement
AT gabyschneider absolutedirectioninorganellemovement