title: The microbial opsin family of optogenetic tools.
abstract: The capture and utilization of light is an exquisitely evolved process. The single-component microbial opsins, although more limited than multicomponent cascades in processing, display unparalleled compactness and speed. Recent advances in understanding microbial opsins have been driven by molecular engineering for optogenetics and by comparative genomics. Here we provide a Primer on these light-activated ion channels and pumps, describe a group of opsins bridging prior categories, and explore the convergence of molecular engineering and genomic discovery for the utilization and understanding of these remarkable molecular machines.
authors.affiliation: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. zhang_f@mit.edu
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vierock
authors.forename: Ofer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yizhar
authors.forename: Lief E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Fenno
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsunoda
authors.forename: Arash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kianianmomeni
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prigge
authors.forename: Andre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berndt
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cushman
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Polle
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Magnuson
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hegemann
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Deisseroth
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D055355:Opsins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D010802:Phylogeny; D015202:Protein Engineering
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D055355:Opsins