Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
J Mol Biol. 2024 Dec 1;436(23):168835. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2024.168835. Epub 2024 Oct 24.
Biomolecular condensates appear throughout cell physiology and pathology, but the specific role of condensation or its dynamics is often difficult to determine. Optogenetics offers an expanding toolset to address these challenges, providing tools to directly control condensation of arbitrary proteins with precision over their formation, dissolution, and patterning in space and time. In this review, we describe the current state of the field for optogenetic control of condensation. We survey the proteins and their derivatives that form the foundation of this toolset, and we discuss the factors that distinguish them to enable appropriate selection for a given application. We also describe recent examples of the ways in which optogenetic condensation has been used in both basic and applied studies. Finally, we discuss important design considerations when engineering new proteins for optogenetic condensation, and we preview future innovations that will further empower this toolset in the coming years.
生物分子凝聚物出现在细胞生理学和病理学的各个方面，但凝聚的具体作用或其动力学通常难以确定。光遗传学提供了一个不断扩大的工具包来应对这些挑战，提供了工具来直接精确地控制任意蛋白质的凝聚，包括其在空间和时间上的形成、溶解和模式化。在这篇综述中，我们描述了光遗传学控制凝聚的当前领域状态。我们调查了形成该工具集基础的蛋白质及其衍生物，并讨论了将它们区分开来的因素，以使其能够为特定应用进行适当选择。我们还描述了光遗传学凝聚在基础研究和应用研究中的最新应用实例。最后，我们讨论了在为光遗传学凝聚工程新蛋白质时的重要设计考虑因素，并展望了未来的创新，这些创新将在未来几年进一步增强这个工具集。
