Access

Brief Communication

Nature Neuroscience 11, 631–633 (1 June 2008) | doi:10.1038/nn.2120

Red-shifted optogenetic excitation: a tool for fast neural control derived from Volvox carteri

Feng Zhang , Matthias Prigge , Florent Beyri|[egrave]|re , Satoshi P Tsunoda , Joanna Mattis , Ofer Yizhar , Peter Hegemann & Karl Deisseroth

The introduction of two microbial opsin–based tools, channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) and halorhodopsin (NpHR), to neuroscience has generated interest in fast, multimodal, cell type–specific neural circuit control. Here we describe a cation-conducting channelrhodopsin (VChR1) from Volvox carteri that can drive spiking at 589 nm, with excitation maximum red-shifted |[sim]|70 nm compared with ChR2.