title: Natural photoreceptors and their application to synthetic biology.
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.
authors.affiliation: MIT Media Lab and McGovern Institute, Departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Biological Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA. Electronic address: schmida@mit.edu.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut-Storrs, Storrs, CT, USA. Electronic address: cho@engr.uconn.edu.
authors.forename: Yong Ku
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Cho
mesh_terms: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001419:Bacteria / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects; D001436:Bacteriorhodopsins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D017136:Ion Transport; D008027:Light; D055537:Light Signal Transduction; D062308:Optogenetics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D056949:Phototropins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010834:Phytochrome / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects; D058615:Synthetic Biology / Q000379:methods*; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D056949:Phototropins; C423283:VVD protein, Neurospora crassa; C410503:ZTL protein, Arabidopsis; D010834:Phytochrome; D001436:Bacteriorhodopsins
keywords: optogenetics; photoreceptor; protein engineering; signal transduction; synthetic biology