Optimized design and in vivo application of optogenetically functionalized Drosophila dopamine receptors

Zhou F, Tichy AM, Imambocus BN, Sakharwade S, Rodriguez Jimenez FJ, González Martínez M, Jahan I, Habib M, Wilhelmy N, Burre V, Lömker T, Sauter K, Helfrich-Förster C, Pielage J, Grunwald Kadow IC, Janovjak H, Soba P (2023)

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2023

Journal

Nature Communications Nature Publishing Group: Nature Communications

Book Volume: 14

Article Number: 8434

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43970-0

Abstract

Neuromodulatory signaling via G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) plays a pivotal role in regulating neural network function and animal behavior. The recent development of optogenetic tools to induce G protein-mediated signaling provides the promise of acute and cell type-specific manipulation of neuromodulatory signals. However, designing and deploying optogenetically functionalized GPCRs (optoXRs) with accurate specificity and activity to mimic endogenous signaling in vivo remains challenging. Here we optimize the design of optoXRs by considering evolutionary conserved GPCR-G protein interactions and demonstrate the feasibility of this approach using two Drosophila Dopamine receptors (optoDopRs). These optoDopRs exhibit high signaling specificity and light sensitivity in vitro. In vivo, we show receptor and cell type-specific effects of dopaminergic signaling in various behaviors, including the ability of optoDopRs to rescue the loss of the endogenous receptors. This work demonstrates that optoXRs can enable optical control of neuromodulatory receptor-specific signaling in functional and behavioral studies.

Authors with CRIS profile

Peter Soba Professur für Zelluläre und Molekulare Neurophysiologie

Involved external institutions

Universitätsklinikum Bonn DE Germany (DE) Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg DE Germany (DE) Technische Universität Kaiserslautern DE Germany (DE) Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) DE Germany (DE) Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Zhou, F., Tichy, A.M., Imambocus, B.N., Sakharwade, S., Rodriguez Jimenez, F.J., González Martínez, M.,... Soba, P. (2023). Optimized design and in vivo application of optogenetically functionalized Drosophila dopamine receptors. Nature Communications, 14(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43970-0

MLA:

Zhou, Fangmin, et al. "Optimized design and in vivo application of optogenetically functionalized Drosophila dopamine receptors." Nature Communications 14.1 (2023).

BibTeX: Download