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Updated: Jul 10, 2026

An Optogenetic Method to Control and Analyze Gene Expression Patterns in Cell-to-cell Interactions
Published on: March 22, 2018
Effective photoregulation of gene expression by photo responsive T7 promoter
Xingguo Liang1, Ryuji Wakuda, Yuichiro Tsuda
1Department of Molecular Design and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Chikusa, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan.
Abstract:
We constructed a photoresponsive T7 promoter by tethering two 2,6-dimethyl azobenzenes (4-(2,6-dimethyl-phenlylazo)-benzoic acids) via D-threoninol linkers. Under UV light irradiation, the rate of transcription with T7 RNA polymerase (RNAP) on the photoresponsive promoter was 10-fold faster than that under visible light irradiation. Kinetic analysis revealed that K(m) of cis-cis-promoter (both of the introduced azobenzenes are in cis-form) with T7 RNAP was more than 60 times larger than that of trans-trans-form, indicating that the high photoregulatory efficiency was obtained mainly due to the remarkable difference in their affinity with RNAP. By attaching a photoresponsive promoter to the GFP gene, we also showed that photoregulation of gene expression became practicable.
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