TY - JOUR AU - Volkov, Oleksandr AU - Kovalev, Kirill AU - polovinkin AU - Borshchevskiy, Valentin AU - Bamann, Christian AU - Astashkin, Roman AU - Marin, Egor AU - Popov, Alexander AU - Balandin, Taras AU - Willbold, Dieter AU - Büldt, Georg AU - Bamberg, Ernst AU - Gordeliy, Valentin TI - Structural insights into ion conduction by channelrhodopsin 2 JO - Science VL - 358 IS - 6366 SN - 0193-4511 CY - Washington, DC [u.a.] PB - American Association for the Advancement of Science M1 - FZJ-2018-00410 SP - eaan8862 PY - 2017 AB - Ion channels are integral membrane proteins that upon stimulation modulate the flow of ions across the cell or organelle membrane. The resulting electrical signals are involved in biological functions such as electrochemical transmission and information processing in neurons. Channelrhodopsins (ChRs) appear to be unusual channels. They belong to the large family of microbial rhodopsins, seven-helical transmembrane proteins containing retinal as chromophore. Photon absorption initiates retinal isomerization resulting in a photocycle, with different spectroscopically distinguishable intermediates, thereby controlling the opening and closing of the channel. In 2003, it was demonstrated that light-induced currents by heterologously expressed ChR2 can be used to change a host’s membrane potential. The concept was further applied to precisely control muscle and neural activity by using light-induced depolarization to trigger an action potential in neurons expressing ChR2. This optogenetic approach with ChR2 and other ChRs has been widely used for remote control of neural cells in culture and in living animals with high spatiotemporal resolution. It is also used in biomedical studies aimed to cure severe diseases. LB - PUB:(DE-HGF)16 C6 - pmid:29170206 UR - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000416590400032 DO - DOI:10.1126/science.aan8862 UR - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/842131 ER -