Yes, I Agree
We were delighted to see that the latest findings from Adam Claridge Chang’s lab published in Nature Communications in April, were covered in The Straits Times just last week!
In case you missed it in April and would like to add this paper to your summer reading list, you can find the article here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47203-w#Sec17
So, what’s it all about?
Light-gated, chloride-conducting anion channelrhodopsins (ACRs) are powerful neuron inhibitors. The problem is that for cells with high intracellular chloride concentrations, ACRs may have an activating rather than inhibitory effect. So, Adam Claridge-Chang and colleagues aimed to find an alternative optogeneic approach to using ACRs. Enter, potassium-conducting kalium channelrhodopsins (KCRs)!
What did they find?
The research team evaluated the ability of KCRs to inhibit neural activity and suppress behavior in three model organisms: Drosophila, Caenorhabditis elegans, and zebrafish. They found that a variant of KCR1, with improved plasma-membrane trafficking, showed comparable potency to ACR1 but with enhanced properties, including reduced toxicity and better efficacy in high-chloride cells.
What does this mean?
KCRs could be considered next-generation optogenetic inhibitors, opening new avenues for in vivo circuit analysis in small, genetically tractable animals.
Congratulations to the whole team who worked on this exciting project – and for the exciting coverage in The Straits Times: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/duke-nus-researchers-develop-light-controlled-switch-for-brain-cells-to-better-study-the-brain
#Neuroscience #Optogenetics #ResearchInnovation #NeuralCircuits #KCRs #ACRs #InVivoAnalysis #Biotechnology