Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Optogenetics

Controlling cellular activities with light

New red–green optogenetic dimerizers enable the switching on and off of gene expression with high spatiotemporal precision.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: BICYCL optogenetic systems for controlling gene expression.

References

  1. Deisseroth, K. et al. J. Neurosci. 26, 10380–10386 (2006).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Rost, B. R., Schneider-Warme, F., Schmitz, D. & Hegemann, P. Neuron 96, 572–603 (2017).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Klewer, L. & Wu, Y. W. Chemistry 25, 12452–12463 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Levskaya, A., Weiner, O. D., Lim, W. A. & Voigt, C. A. Nature 461, 997–1001 (2009).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Shimizu-Sato, S., Huq, E., Tepperman, J. M. & Quail, P. H. Nat. Biotechnol. 20, 1041–1044 (2002).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Blain-Hartung, M. et al. J. Biol. Chem. 293, 8473–8483 (2018).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Ong, N. T. & Tabor, J. J. ChemBioChem. 19, 1255–1258 (2018).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Jang, J. et al. Nat. Methods https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-023-01764-8 (2023).

  9. Müller, K. et al. Chem. Commun. 49, 8970–8972 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Kaberniuk, A. A., Shemetov, A. A. & Verkhusha, V. V. Nat. Methods 13, 591–597 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Chen, X. & Wu, Y. W. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 57, 6796–6799 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Y.-W.W. is supported by the European Research Council (ChemBioAP), Vetenskapsrådet (nr 2018-04585), the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and the Göran Gustafsson Foundation for Research in Natural Sciences and Medicine. The author thanks colleagues at Wu laboratory for discussion, and acknowledges D. Corkery for proofreading of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yao-Wen Wu.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wu, YW. Controlling cellular activities with light. Nat Methods 20, 357–358 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-022-01745-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-022-01745-3

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing