Spatiotemporal control of gene expression or labeling is a valuable strategy for identifying functions of genes within complex neural circuits. Here, we develop a highly light-sensitive and efficient photoactivatable Flp recombinase (PA-Flp) that is suitable for genetic manipulation in vivo. The highly light-sensitive property of PA-Flp is ideal for activation in deep mouse brain regions by illumination with a noninvasive light-emitting diode. In addition, PA-Flp can be extended to the Cre-lox system through a viral vector as Flp-dependent Cre expression platform, thereby activating both Flp and Cre. Finally, we demonstrate that PA-Flp-dependent, Cre-mediated Ca3.1 silencing in the medial septum increases object-exploration behavior in mice. Thus, PA-Flp is a noninvasive, highly efficient, and easy-to-use optogenetic module that offers a side-effect-free and expandable genetic manipulation tool for neuroscience research.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6338782 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-08282-8 | DOI Listing |
PLoS Pathog
January 2025
Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, United States of America.
Host-pathogen interactions represent a dynamic evolutionary process, wherein both hosts and pathogens continuously develop complex mechanisms to outmaneuver each other. Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease pathogen, has evolved an intricate antigenic variation mechanism to evade the host immune response, enabling its dissemination, persistence, and pathogenicity. Despite the discovery of this mechanism over two decades ago, the precise processes, genetic elements, and proteins involved in this system remain largely unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Department of Pathology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Triple negative breast cancers often contain higher numbers of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes compared with other breast cancer subtypes, with their number correlating with prolonged survival. Since little is known about tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte trafficking in triple negative breast cancers, we investigated the relationship between tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes and the vascular compartment to better understand the immune tumour microenvironment in this aggressive cancer type. We aimed to identify mechanisms and signaling pathways responsible for immune cell trafficking in triple negative breast cancers, specifically of basal type, that could potentially be manipulated to change such tumours from immune "cold" to "hot" thereby increasing the likelihood of successful immunotherapy in this challenging patient population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFmSystems
January 2025
Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
Unlabelled: Archaeal molecular biology has been a topic of intense research in recent decades as their role in global ecosystems, nutrient cycles, and eukaryotic evolution comes to light. The hypersaline-adapted archaeal species and serve as important model organisms for understanding archaeal genomics, genetics, and biochemistry, in part because efficient tools enable genetic manipulation. As a result, the number of strains in circulation among the haloarchaeal research community has increased in recent decades.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAppl Environ Microbiol
January 2025
Centro de Engenharia Genética e Biologia Molecular (CBMEG), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
Unlabelled: is an anaerobic and thermophilic bacterium that has been genetically engineered for ethanol production at very high yields. However, the underlying reactions responsible for electron flow, redox equilibrium, and how they relate to ethanol production in this microbe are not fully elucidated. Therefore, we performed a series of genetic manipulations to investigate the contribution of hydrogenase genes to high ethanol yield, generating evidence for the importance of hydrogen-reacting enzymes in ethanol production.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAppl Environ Microbiol
January 2025
Department of Biological Sciences, Minnesota State University Mankato, Mankato, Minnesota, USA.
Unlabelled: causes bacterial cold-water disease (BCWD) in salmonids and other fish, resulting in substantial economic losses in aquaculture worldwide. The mechanisms uses to cause disease are poorly understood. Despite considerable effort, most strains of have resisted attempts at genetic manipulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!