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Updated: Aug 1, 2025

An Optogenetic Method to Control and Analyze Gene Expression Patterns in Cell-to-cell Interactions
Published on: March 22, 2018
A visual opsin from jellyfish enables precise temporal control of G protein signalling
Michiel van Wyk1,2, Sonja Kleinlogel3,4,5
1Department of Biomedical Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. michiel.vanwyk@unibe.ch.
Abstract:
Phototransduction is mediated by distinct types of G protein cascades in different animal taxa: bilateral invertebrates typically utilise the Gαq pathway whereas vertebrates typically utilise the Gαt(i/o) pathway. By contrast, photoreceptors in jellyfish (Cnidaria) utilise the Gαs intracellular pathway, similar to olfactory transduction in mammals1. How this habitually slow pathway has adapted to support dynamic vision in jellyfish remains unknown. Here we study a light-sensing protein (rhodopsin) from the box jellyfish Carybdea rastonii and uncover a mechanism that dramatically speeds up phototransduction: an uninterrupted G protein-coupled receptor - G protein complex. Unlike known G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), this rhodopsin constitutively binds a single downstream Gαs partner to enable G-protein activation and inactivation within tens of milliseconds. We use this GPCR in a viral gene therapy to restore light responses in blind mice.
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