Structural mechanisms of selectivity and gating in anion channelrhodopsins.

ABSTRACT: Both designed and natural anion-conducting channelrhodopsins (dACRs and nACRs, respectively) have been widely applied in optogenetics (enabling selective inhibition of target-cell activity during animal behaviour studies), but each class exhibits performance limitations, underscoring trade-offs in channel structure-function relationships. Therefore, molecular and structural insights into dACRs and nACRs will be critical not only for understanding the fundamental mechanisms of these light-gated anion channels, but also to create next-generation optogenetic tools. Here we report crystal structures of the dACR iC++, along with spectroscopic, electrophysiological and computational analyses that provide unexpected insights into pH dependence, substrate recognition, channel gating and ion select

SUBMITTER: Kato HE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6317992 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature