title: Optogenetics: Basic Concepts and Their Development.
abstract: The discovery of light-gated ion channels and their application to controlling neural activities have had a transformative impact on the field of neuroscience. In recent years, the concept of using light-activated proteins to control biological processes has greatly diversified into other fields, driven by the natural diversity of photoreceptors and decades of knowledge obtained from their biophysical characterization. In this chapter, we will briefly discuss the origin and development of optogenetics and highlight the basic concepts that make it such a powerful technology. We will review how these enabling concepts have developed over the past decade, and discuss future perspectives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA. cho@engr.uconn.edu.|Institute for Systems Genomics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA. cho@engr.uconn.edu.
authors.forename: Yong Ku
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018390:Gene Targeting / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008027:Light; D008958:Models, Molecular; D062308:Optogenetics / Q000379:methods*; D015202:Protein Engineering; D012243:Rhodopsin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D007473:Ion Channels; D012243:Rhodopsin
keywords: Channelrhodopsin; Light-activated protein; Optogenetics; Photoreceptor; Protein engineering