Directed evolution of a far-red fluorescent rhodopsin
Journal article, 2014

Microbial rhodopsins are a diverse group of photoactive transmembrane proteins found in all three domains of life. A member of this protein family, Archaerhodopsin-3 (Arch) of halobacterium Halorubrum sodomense, was recently shown to function as a fluorescent indicator of membrane potential when expressed in mammalian neurons. Arch fluorescence, however, is very dim and is not optimal for applications in live-cell imaging. We used directed evolution to identify mutations that dramatically improve the absolute brightness of Arch, as confirmed biochemically and with livecell imaging (in Escherichia coli and human embryonic kidney 293 cells). In some fluorescent Arch variants, the pKaof the protonated Schiff-base linkage to retinal is near neutral pH, a useful feature for voltage-sensing applications. These bright Arch variants enable labeling of biological membranes in the far-red/infrared and exhibit the furthest red-shifted fluorescence emission thus far reported for a fluorescent protein (maximal excitation/emission at ∼620 nm/730 nm).

Near-infrared

Voltage sensor

Opsins

Optogenetics

Bioelectricity

Author

R.S. McIsaac

Martin Engqvist

T. Wannier

A.Z. Rosenthal

L. Herwig

N.C. Flytzanis

E.S. Imasheva

J.K. Lanyi

S.P. Balashov

V. Gradinaru

F.H. Arnold

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

0027-8424 (ISSN) 1091-6490 (eISSN)

Vol. 111 36 13034-13039

Subject Categories

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

DOI

10.1073/pnas.1413987111

More information

Created

10/10/2017