title: Looking within for vision.
abstract: Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2), a directly light-gated cation channel from the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has been shown to be a directly light-switched cation-selective ion channel, which employs 11-cis retinal as its chromophore. This is the same chromophore as the mammalian photoreceptor's visual pigment-rhodopsin. Previously, investigators demonstrated that ChR2 can be used to optically control neuronal firing by depolarizing the cell. In this issue of Neuron, Bi et al. apply viral-mediated gene transfer to deliver ChR2 to retinal ganglion cells (RGC) in a rodent model of inherited blindness. In this way, the authors have genetically engineered surviving retinal neurons to take on the lost photoreceptive function. The conversion of light-insensitive retinal interneurons into photosensitive cells introduces an entirely new direction for treatments of blinding retinal degeneration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, The Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: John G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Flannery
authors.forename: Kenneth P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Greenberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological; D010786:Photoreceptor Cells; D051381:Rats; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology; D012162:Retinal Degeneration / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000502:physiology; D012243:Rhodopsin / Q000502:physiology*; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D012243:Rhodopsin