Yeast-Based Screening System for the Selection of Functional Light-Driven K Channels.

Ion channels control the electrical properties of cells by opening and closing (gating) in response to a wide palette of environmental and physiological stimuli. Endowing ion channels with the possibility to be gated by remotely applied stimuli, such as light, provides a tool for in vivo control of cellular functions in behaving animals. We have engineered a synthetic light-gated potassium (K) channel by connecting an exogenous plant photoreceptor LOV2 domain to the K channel pore Kcv.