Stefanie Hemmer, Marianne Schulte, Esther Knieps-Grünhagen, Joachim Granzin, Dieter Willbold, Karl-Erich Jaeger, Renu Batra-Safferling, Vineet Panwalkar, Ulrich Krauss
Light, oxygen, voltage (LOV) photoreceptors are widely distributed throughout all kingdoms of life, and have in recent years, due to their modular nature, been broadly used as sensor domains for the construction of optogenetic tools. For understanding photoreceptor function as well as for optogenetic tool design and fine-tuning, a detailed knowledge of the photophysics, photochemistry, and structural changes underlying the LOV signaling paradigm is instrumental. Mutations that alter the lifetime of the photo-adduct signaling state represent a convenient handle to tune LOV sensor on/off kinetics and, thus, steady-state on/off equilibria of the photoreceptor (or optogenetic switch)...
December 8, 2022: Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences