Optogenetic control with a photocleavable protein, PhoCl.

Zhang, Wei; Lohman, Alexander W; Zhuravlova, Yevgeniya; Lu, Xiaocen; Wiens, Matthew D; Hoi, Hiofan; Yaganoglu, Sine; Mohr, Manuel A et al. · Nat Methods · 2017

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

To expand the range of experiments that are accessible with optogenetics, we developed a photocleavable protein (PhoCl) that spontaneously dissociates into two fragments after violet-light-induced cleavage of a specific bond in the protein backbone. We demonstrated that PhoCl can be used to engineer light-activatable Cre recombinase, Gal4 transcription factor, and a viral protease that in turn was used to activate opening of the large-pore ion channel Pannexin-1.

Medical subject headings