Identifying directional persistence in intracellular particle motion using Hidden Markov Models

We illustrate the usefulness of the method by studying transport of vesicles along microtubules and transport of nanospheres activated by myosin. We study the results using mean square displacements, durations, and particle speeds within each state. We conclude that the method provides accurate identification of states of motion with different directional persistence, with very good agreement in terms of mean-squared displacement between the reference data set and one of the states in the two-state model.