Independent optical excitation of distinct neural populations

• Main Authors: Klapoetke, Nathan Cao (Contributor), Murata, Yasunobu (Contributor), Kim, Sung Soo (Author), Pulver, Stefan R. (Author), Birdsey-Benson, Amanda (Contributor), Cho, Yong Ku (Contributor), Morimoto, Tania K. (Contributor), Chuong, Amy S. (Contributor), Carpenter, Eric J. (Author), Tian, Zhijian (Author), Wang, Jun (Author), Xie, Yinlong (Author), Yan, Zhixiang (Author), Zhang, Yong (Author), Chow, Brian Y. (Author), Surek, Barbara (Author), Melkonian, Michael (Author), Jayaraman, Vivek (Author), Wong, Gane Ka-Shu (Author), Constantine-Paton, Martha (Contributor), Boyden, Edward (Author)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Synthetic Neurobiology Group (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Media Laboratory (Contributor), McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Neurobiological Engineering (Contributor), Boyden, Edward Stuart (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group, 2014-12-16T21:46:24Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

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 the variant CsChrimson 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.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Alberta. Alberta Innovation and Advanced Education
Alberta Innovates--Technology Futures
United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA Living Foundries, Contract HR0011-12-C-0068)
National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Biophotonics Program)
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH grant 5R01EY014074-18)
United States. Dept. of Defense (Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Media Laboratory
National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF Harvard/MIT Joint grants in Basic Neuroscience, CBET 1053233)
National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF Harvard/MIT Joint grants in Basic Neuroscience, EFRI 0835878)
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant NIH 1DP2OD002002)
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant NIH 1R01NS067199)
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant NIH 1R01DA029639)
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant NIH 1R01GM104948)
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant NIH 1RC1MH088182)
National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant NIH 1R01NS075421)
Wallace H. Coulter Foundation
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Human Frontier Science Program
New York Stem Cell Foundation
Institution of Engineering and Technology
Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology