Adam Claridge-Chang and Shiqiang Gao analyse K+ channelrhodopsins:

"both the absolute K+ to Na+ permeability ratio and its stability over time determine the inhibition to activation transition, which limits their utility for silencing neural circuits."

And they found that a single aminoacid mutant, KCR1-C29D, "shows a relatively high and the most stable K+ to Na+ permeability ratio during illumination", better than heavily protein engineered versions.

"Stabilized Ion Selectivity Corrects Activation Drift in Kalium Channelrhodopsins", Duan et al. 2025
https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202509180

#neuroscience #optogenetics #channelrhodopsin

#Optogenetics study detects new #acid #sensor in #plant #cells.

#calcium #channelrhodopsin #KCR2 #guard_cells #endoplasmic_reticulum

https://phys.org/news/2023-12-optogenetics-acid-sensor-cells.html

@PhiloNeuroScie

“To expand the repertoire of endogenous cellular communication, we developed a synthetic, photon-assisted synaptic transmission (PhAST) system. PhAST is based on luciferases and channelrhodopsins that enable the transmission of a neuronal state across space, using photons as neurotransmitters.”

Porta-de-la-Riva et al. 2023 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-023-01836-9

What a fun project and cool finding, and made in #Catalunya to top it off at the Photonic Science Institute.

Combine that with #photopharmacology and neural circuits may be able to dose themselves according to activity patterns.

#neuroscience #PhAST #Luciferase #ChannelRhodopsin #biophotonics #optogenetics

All-optical physiology resolves a synaptic basis for behavioral timescale plasticity

•All-optical modulation/readout of membrane voltage in hippocampal plasticity (BTSP)

•Cellular-resolution all-optical measurements reveal synaptic potentiation in BTSP

•Cellular-resolution all-optical measurements reveal no excitability changes in BTSP

•Presynaptic (CA2/3) region activity required for full postsynaptic (CA1)-induced BTSP

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)01578-1

#optogenetics #GEVI #channelrhodopsin #nomoa