Creation of channelrhodopsin variants which have various properties in ion selectivity and localization

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25670103
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: General physiology
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: YAWO Hiromu 東北大学, 生命科学研究科, 教授 (00144353)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 光遺伝学 / オプトジェネティクス / チャネルロドプシン / キネティクス / イオン選択性 / 近赤外 / ランタニドナノ粒子 / アップコンバージョン

Outline of Final Research Achievements

(1) We generated step-function opsin (SFO) variants of ChRWR and ChRFR, chimeric channelrhodopsins between ChR1 and ChR2, and analyzed kinetics of their photocurrents as functions of wavelength, fluence and irradiation time. One of them, ChRFR-C167A was expressed in the rat cortical neuron and the light-dependent change of membrane potential was quantitatively analyzed as a function of fluence and irradiation time. (2) We generated enhaced variants of MvChR1, which is more selective to Na+ than other ChRs. The mode of ion permeation was revealed to be different from other ChRs. (3) We made a near-infrared (NIR) optogenetics system which consists of lanthanide nanoparticles (LNP) as donors and ChRs as acceptors. The firing of neurons expressing ChRs were controled by NIR light through upconversion of LNPs.

Free Research Field

光遺伝学