A bright future: optogenetics to dissect the spatiotemporal control of cell behavior

Alexander G. Goglia, Jared E. Toettcher

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

69 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cells sense, process, and respond to extracellular information using signaling networks: collections of proteins that act as precise biochemical sensors. These protein networks are characterized by both complex temporal organization, such as pulses of signaling activity, and by complex spatial organization, where proteins assemble structures at particular locations and times within the cell. Yet despite their ubiquity, studying these spatial and temporal properties has remained challenging because they emerge from the entire protein network rather than a single node, and cannot be easily tuned by drugs or mutations. These challenges are being met by a new generation of optogenetic tools capable of directly controlling the activity of individual signaling nodes over time and the assembly of protein complexes in space. Here, we outline how these recent innovations are being used in conjunction with engineering-influenced experimental design to address longstanding questions in signaling biology.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)106-113
Number of pages8
JournalCurrent Opinion in Chemical Biology
Volume48
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2019

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Biochemistry

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