Engineered pairs of distinct photoswitches for optogenetic control of cellular proteins

Fuun Kawano, Hideyuki Suzuki, Akihiro Furuya and Moritoshi Sato ()
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Fuun Kawano: Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Hideyuki Suzuki: Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Akihiro Furuya: Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Moritoshi Sato: Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Optogenetic methods take advantage of photoswitches to control the activity of cellular proteins. Here, we completed a multi-directional engineering of the fungal photoreceptor Vivid to develop pairs of distinct photoswitches named Magnets. These new photoswitches were engineered to recognize each other based on the electrostatic interactions, thus preventing homodimerization and enhancing light-induced heterodimerization. Furthermore, we tuned the switch-off kinetics by four orders of magnitude and developed several variants, including those with substantially faster kinetics than any of the other conventional dimerization-based blue spectrum photoswitches. We demonstrate the utility of Magnets as powerful tools that can optogenetically manipulate molecular processes in biological systems.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7256

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