Journal
NATURE METHODS
Volume 11, Issue 3, Pages 338-U333Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/NMETH.2836
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Funding
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Alberta Ministry of Enterprise and Advanced Education
- Alberta Innovates Technology Futures (AITF) Innovates Centre of Research Excellence (iCORE)
- Musea Ventures
- BGI-Shenzhen
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Living Foundries [HR0011-12-C-0068]
- US National Science Foundation (NSF) Biophotonics Program
- US National Institutes of Health (NIH) [5R01EY014074-18]
- MIT Media Lab, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Harvard/MIT Joint grants in Basic Neuroscience, NSF [CBET 1053233, EFRI 0835878]
- NIH [1DP2OD002002, 1R01NS067199, 1R01DA029639, 1R01GM104948, 1RC1MH088182, 1R01NS075421]
- Wallace H. Coulter Foundation
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- Human Frontiers Science Program
- New York Stem Cell Foundation Robertson Neuroscience Investigator Award
- Institution of Engineering and Technology A.F. Harvey Prize
- Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology
- Directorate For Engineering
- Div Of Chem, Bioeng, Env, & Transp Sys [1264975] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Directorate For Engineering
- Div Of Chem, Bioeng, Env, & Transp Sys [1053233] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Optogenetic tools enable examination of how specific cell types contribute to brain circuit functions. A long-standing question is whether it is possible to independently activate two distinct neural populations in mammalian brain tissue. Such a capability would enable the study of how different synapses or pathways interact to encode information in the brain. Here we describe two channelrhodopsins, Chronos and Chrimson, discovered through sequencing and physiological characterization of opsins from over 100 species of alga. Chrimson's excitation spectrum is red shifted by 45 nm relative to previous channelrhodopsins and can enable experiments in which red light is preferred. We show minimal visual system-mediated behavioral interference when using Chrimson in neurobehavioral studies in Drosophila melanogaster. Chronos has faster kinetics than previous channelrhodopsins yet is effectively more light sensitive. Together these two reagents enable two-color activation of neural spiking and downstream synaptic transmission in independent neural populations without detectable cross-talk in mouse brain slice.
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