Engineering genetically-encoded tools for optogenetic control of protein activity

摘要

Highlights?Optogenetic tools allow control of protein activity with spatiotemporal precision.?New photosensory domains provide diverse building blocks for optogenetic systems.?Generalizable design strategies have been proposed for protein photocontrol.?Computational analysis has facilitated the design of optogenetic tools.?High-throughput screening has been instrumental for optimizing engineered systems.Optogenetic tools offer fast and reversible control of protein activity with subcellular spatial precision. In the past few years, remarkable progress has been made in engineering photoactivatable systems regulating the activity of cellular proteins. In this review, we discuss general strategies in designing and optimizing such optogenetic tools and highlight recent advances in the field, with specific focus on applications regulating protein cat