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Updated: Nov 20, 2025

Spatiotemporal Control of Protein Activity through Optogenetic Allosteric Regulation
Published on: October 4, 2024
Control of SRC molecular dynamics encodes distinct cytoskeletal responses by specifying signaling pathway usage
Adèle Kerjouan1, Cyril Boyault1, Christiane Oddou1
1Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Centre de Recherche Université Grenoble Alpes, Inserm U 1209, CNRS UMR 5309, 38706 La Tronche, France.
Abstract:
Upon activation by different transmembrane receptors, the same signaling protein can induce distinct cellular responses. A way to decipher the mechanisms of such pleiotropic signaling activity is to directly manipulate the decision-making activity that supports the selection between distinct cellular responses. We developed an optogenetic probe (optoSRC) to control SRC signaling, an example of a pleiotropic signaling node, and we demonstrated its ability to generate different acto-adhesive structures (lamellipodia or invadosomes) upon distinct spatio-temporal control of SRC kinase activity. The occurrence of each acto-adhesive structure was simply dictated by the dynamics of optoSRC nanoclusters in adhesive sites, which were dependent on the SH3 and Unique domains of the protein. The different decision-making events regulated by optoSRC dynamics induced distinct downstream signaling pathways, which we characterized using time-resolved proteomic and network analyses. Collectively, by manipulating the molecular mobility of SRC kinase activity, these experiments reveal the pleiotropy-encoding mechanism of SRC signaling.
Insights
Scientists developed optogenetic probes to control SRC signaling, revealing how molecular mobility dictates distinct cellular responses like lamellipodia or invadosomes. This work uncovers the pleiotropy-encoding mechanism of SRC signaling.
Area of Science:
- Cellular signaling
- Molecular biology
- Biophysics
Background:
- Single signaling proteins can trigger diverse cellular outcomes.
- Understanding the mechanisms behind this pleiotropic signaling is crucial.
- Directly manipulating cellular decision-making processes offers insight.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a tool for controlling SRC signaling dynamics.
- To investigate how spatio-temporal control of SRC activity influences cellular responses.
- To elucidate the pleiotropy-encoding mechanism of SRC signaling.
Main Methods:
- Development of an optogenetic probe (optoSRC) to control SRC kinase activity.
- Distinct spatio-temporal control of optoSRC nanocluster dynamics at adhesive sites.
- Time-resolved proteomic and network analyses to characterize downstream signaling pathways.
Main Results:
- OptoSRC successfully generated distinct acto-adhesive structures (lamellipodia or invadosomes).
- Cellular response was dictated by the dynamics of optoSRC nanoclusters, dependent on SH3 and Unique domains.
- Distinct downstream signaling pathways were induced by different optoSRC dynamics.
Conclusions:
- Molecular mobility of SRC kinase activity is a key determinant of pleiotropy.
- The SH3 and Unique domains are critical for regulating optoSRC nanocluster dynamics and cellular decisions.
- This study provides a novel approach to dissecting complex signaling networks.
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