title: Genetically encoded optical sensors of neuronal activity and cellular function.
abstract: Fluorescent proteins (FPs) have been engineered to produce an optical report in response to cellular signals. FP fluorescence can be made directly sensitive to the chemical environment, via specific mutations of or around the chromophore. Alternatively, FPs can be made indirectly sensitive to cellular signals by their fusion to 'detector' proteins that respond to specific cellular signals with structural rearrangements that act on the FP to alter fluorescence. These optical sensors of membrane voltage, neurotransmitter release, and intracellular messengers, including powerful new sensors of Ca(2+), cyclic nucleotides and nitric oxide, are likely to provide new insights into the workings of cellular signals and of information processing in neural circuits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, 271 LSA, MC#3200, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guerrero
authors.forename: E Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Isacoff
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D006801:Humans; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*; D009474:Neurons / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins