LOV2-based photoactivatable CaMKII and its application to single synapses: Local Optogenetics.
AsLOV2
AtLOV2
BcLOV4
cpLOV2
CRY2/CIB1
CRY2/CRY2
CRY2clust
CRY2olig
EL222
FKF1/GI
iLID
LOVTRAP
Magnets
NcWC1-LOV
RsLOV
TULIP
VfAU1-LOV
VVD
YtvA
Review
Abstract:
Optogenetic techniques offer a high spatiotemporal resolution to manipulate cellular activity. For instance, Channelrhodopsin-2 with global light illumination is the most widely used to control neuronal activity at the cellular level. However, the cellular scale is much larger than the diffraction limit of light (<1 μm) and does not fully exploit the features of the "high spatial resolution" of optogenetics. For instance, until recently, there were no optogenetic methods to induce synaptic plasticity at the level of single synapses. To address this, we developed an optogenetic tool named photoactivatable CaMKII (paCaMKII) by fusing a light-sensitive domain (LOV2) to CaMKIIα, which is a protein abundantly expressed in neurons of the cerebrum and hippocampus and essential for synaptic plasticity. Combining photoactivatable CaMKII with two-photon excitation, we successfully activated it in single spines, inducing synaptic plasticity (long-term potentiation) in hippocampal neurons. We refer to this method as "Local Optogenetics", which involves the local activation of molecules and measurement of cellular responses. In this review, we will discuss the characteristics of LOV2, the recent development of its derivatives, and the development and application of paCaMKII.
