title: Biophotography: concepts, applications and perspectives.
abstract: Synthetic biology aims at manipulating biological systems by rationally designed and genetically introduced components. Efforts in photoactuator engineering resulted in microorganisms reacting to extracellular light-cues with various cellular responses. Some of them lead to the formation of macroscopically observable outputs, which can be used to generate images made of living matter. Several methods have been developed to convert colorless compounds into visible pigments by an enzymatic conversion. This has been exploited as a showcase for successful creation of an optogenetic tool; examples for basic light-controlled biological processes that have been coupled to this biophotography comprise regulation of transcription, protein stability, and second messenger synthesis. Moreover, biological reproduction of images is used as means to facilitate quantitative characterization of optogenetic switches as well as a technique to investigate complex cellular signaling circuits. Here, we will compare the different techniques for biological image generation, introduce experimental approaches, and provide future-perspectives for biophotography.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology/Genetics, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch-Strasse 8, 35043, Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Renicke
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology/Genetics, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch-Strasse 8, 35043, Marburg, Germany. taxis@staff.uni-marburg.de.|Department of Chemistry/Biochemistry, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Hans-Meerwein-Strasse 4, 35043, Marburg, Germany. taxis@staff.uni-marburg.de.
authors.forename: Christof
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5952-7091
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Taxis
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects*; D008027:Light; D062308:Optogenetics; D058615:Synthetic Biology
keywords: Biophotography; Light; Optogenetics; Protein degradation; Synthetic biology; Transcription