Engineering of a light-gated potassium channel

Authors

• Christian Cosentino, Universita degli Studi di MilanoFollow
• Laura Alberio, Universita degli Studi di Milano
• Sabrina Gazzarrini, Universita degli Studi di Milano
• Marco Aquila, Universita degli Studi di Milano
• Eduardo Romano, Universita degli Studi di Milano
• Solei Cermenati, Universita degli Studi di Milano
• Paolo Zuccolini, Universita degli Studi di Milano
• Jan Petersen, University of Glasgow, UK
• Monica Beltrame, Universita degli Studi di Milano
• James L. Van Etten, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• John M. Christie, University of Glasgow, UK
• Gerhard Thiel, Technische Universität Darmstadt, GermanyFollow
• Anna Moroni, Università degli Studi di MilanoFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

4-8-2015

Citation

Science 8 MAY 2015 • VOL 348 ISSUE 6235, pp 707-710 + supplement

Comments

(c) 2015 AAAS

Abstract

The present palette of opsin-based optogenetic tools lacks a light-gated potassium (K+) channel desirable for silencing of excitable cells. Here, we describe the construction of a blue-light–induced K+ channel 1 (BLINK1) engineered by fusing the plant LOV2-Ja photosensory module to the small viral K+ channel Kcv. BLINK1 exhibits biophysical features of Kcv, including K+ selectivity and high single-channel conductance, but reversibly photoactivates in blue light. Opening of BLINK1 channels hyperpolarizes the cell to the K+ equilibrium potential. Ectopic expression of BLINK1 reversibly inhibits the escape response in light-exposed zebrafish larvae. BLINK1 therefore provides a single-component optogenetic tool that can establish prolonged, physiological hyperpolarization of cells at low light intensities.