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Spatiotemporal Control of Protein Activity through Optogenetic Allosteric Regulation
Published on: October 4, 2024
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LILAC: enhanced actin imaging with an optogenetic Lifeact
Kourtney L Kroll1, Alexander R French2,3, Tobin R Sosnick4,5,6
1Biophysical Sciences Graduate Program, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
Nature Methods
|January 30, 2023
Abstract:
Lifeact is a popular peptide-based label of actin filaments in live cells. We have designed an improved Lifeact variant, LILAC, that binds to actin in light using the LOV2 protein. Light control allows the user to modulate actin labeling, enabling image analysis that leverages modulation for an enhanced view of F-actin dynamics in cells. Furthermore, the tool reduces actin perturbations and cell sickness caused by Lifeact overexpression.

