Volume 57, Issue 15 pp. 3949-3953
Communication

Hybrid Indicators for Fast and Sensitive Voltage Imaging

Yongxian Xu

Yongxian Xu

College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China

Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, 100871 China

School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 China

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Luxin Peng

Luxin Peng

College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Sicong Wang

Sicong Wang

College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Anqi Wang

Anqi Wang

College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China

Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, 100871 China

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Ruirui Ma

Ruirui Ma

College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China

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Ying Zhou

Ying Zhou

College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China

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Jiahe Yang

Jiahe Yang

College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China

MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX3 9DS UK

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De-en Sun

De-en Sun

College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China

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Dr. Wei Lin

Dr. Wei Lin

College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China

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Prof. Dr. Xing Chen

Prof. Dr. Xing Chen

College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China

Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, 100871 China

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Prof. Dr. Peng Zou

Corresponding Author

Prof. Dr. Peng Zou

College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China

Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, 100871 China

PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, 100871 China

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First published: 13 February 2018
Citations: 33

Graphical Abstract

The fast and the sensitive: A hybrid strategy employing site-specific protein modification techniques produced a palette of fluorescent membrane voltage indicators with sub-millisecond response kinetics. These indicators enable the optical mapping of electrical communications among cells at high resolution.

Abstract

Membrane voltage is an important biophysical signal that underlies intercellular electrical communications. A fluorescent voltage indicator is presented that enables the investigation of electrical signaling at high spatial resolution. The method is built upon the site-specific modification of microbial rhodopsin proteins with organic fluorophores, resulting in a hybrid indicator scaffold that is one of the most sensitive and fastest orange-colored voltage indicators developed to date. We applied this technique to optically map electrical connectivity in cultured cells, which revealed gap junction-mediated long-range coupling that spanned over hundreds of micrometers.

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