Natural photoreceptors and their application to synthetic biology

Daniel Schmidt, Yong Ku Cho

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

41 Scopus citations

Abstract

The ability to perturb living systems is essential to understand how cells sense, integrate, and exchange information, to comprehend how pathologic changes in these processes relate to disease, and to provide insights into therapeutic points of intervention. Several molecular technologies based on natural photoreceptor systems have been pioneered that allow distinct cellular signaling pathways to be modulated with light in a temporally and spatially precise manner. In this review, we describe and discuss the underlying design principles of natural photoreceptors that have emerged as fundamental for the rational design and implementation of synthetic light-controlled signaling systems. Furthermore, we examine the unique challenges that synthetic protein technologies face when applied to the study of neural dynamics at the cellular and network level.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)80-91
Number of pages12
JournalTrends in biotechnology
Volume33
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1 2015
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2014.

Keywords

  • Optogenetics
  • Photoreceptor
  • Protein engineering
  • Signal transduction
  • Synthetic biology

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