Subcellular optogenetic inhibition of G proteins generates signaling gradients and cell migration.

ABSTRACT: Cells sense gradients of extracellular cues and generate polarized responses such as cell migration and neurite initiation. There is static information on the intracellular signaling molecules involved in these responses, but how they dynamically orchestrate polarized cell behaviors is not well understood. A limitation has been the lack of methods to exert spatial and temporal control over specific signaling molecules inside a living cell. Here we introduce optogenetic tools that act downstream of native G protein-coupled receptor (GPCRs) and provide direct control over the activity of endogenous heterotrimeric G protein subunits. Light-triggered recruitment of a truncated regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) protein or a Gβγ-sequestering domain to a selected region on the plasma membran

SUBMITTER: O'Neill PR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4116304 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature