Light-based feedback for controlling intracellular signaling dynamics.

Author: Toettcher JE, Gong D, Lim WA, Weiner OD.
Affiliation: Cardiovascular Research Institute and Department of Biochemistry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
Conference/Journal: Nat Methods.
Date published: 2011 Sep 11
Other: Volume ID: 8 , Issue ID: 10 , Pages: 837-9 , Word Count: 84



The ability to apply precise inputs to signaling species in live cells would be transformative for interrogating and understanding complex cell-signaling systems. Here we report an 'optogenetic' method for applying custom signaling inputs using feedback control of a light-gated protein-protein interaction. We applied this strategy to perturb protein localization and phosphoinositide 3-kinase activity, generating time-varying signals and clamping signals to buffer against cell-to-cell variability or changes in pathway activity.
Comment in
Nat Methods. 2011;8(10):808-9.
PMID: 21909100 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] PMCID: PMC3184382 [Available on 2012/3/11]