Analog Retinal Redshifts Visible Absorption of QuasAr Transmembrane Voltage Sensors into Near-infrared.

ABSTRACT: Opsin-based transmembrane voltage sensors (OTVSs) are increasingly important tools for neuroscience enabling neural function in complex brain circuits to be explored in live, behaving animals. However, the visible wavelengths required for fluorescence excitation of the current generation of OTVSs limit optogenetic imaging in the brain to depths of only a few mm due to the strong absorption and scattering of visible light by biological tissues. We report that substitution of the native A1 retinal chromophore of the widely used QuasAr1/2 OTVSs with the retinal analog MMAR containing a methylamino-modified dimethylphenyl ring results in over a 100-nm redshift of the maxima of the absorption and fluorescence emission bands to near 700 and 840 nm, respectively. FT-Raman spectroscopy reveals tha

SUBMITTER: Mei G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7004139 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature