Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 13, 2025

Building a Simple and Versatile Illumination System for Optogenetic Experiments
Published on: January 12, 2021
A Urease-Based pH Photoswitch: A General Route to Light-to-pH Transduction
Nikita M Ivanov1, Alexandar I Slivkov1, Wilhelm T S Huck1
1Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
New approaches for the integration of chemical and physical stimuli to control the dynamics of artificial enzymatic reaction networks (ERNs) are needed. Here, we present a general approach to convert a light stimulus into a time-programmed pH response. We developed and characterized a panel of photoswitchable inhibitors of urease. Urease activity, now regulated by light via the photoinhibitors, leads to an increase in pH upon hydrolysis of urea into ammonia. Careful choice of characteristics of light, and concentrations of enzyme, substrate, and photoinhibitor, allowed us to control the timing of the pH transition. Furthermore, as all enzymes have an activity-pH profile, the urease photoinhibitor system can be used to regulate the activities of other enzymes in small reaction networks.
Related Concept Videos
Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways
Channel Rhodopsins
Rhodopsins belong to the family of cell surface proteins called G-protein coupled receptors,...
Photoluminescence: Applications
Photoreceptors and Plant Responses to Light
Photoluminescence: Fluorescence and Phosphorescence
A pair of electrons in a...
The Z-Scheme of Electron Transport in Photosynthesis

