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US 8,202,699 B2Granted
Use of biological photoreceptors as directly light-activated ion channels
AssigneeMax-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Wissenschaften e.V.
InventorsPeter Hegemann, Georg Nagel, Ernst Bamberg
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Abstract
Use of a biological photoreceptor as light-controlled ion channel for the alteration of the ion conductivity of a membrane by means of light. The photoreceptor used comprises an apoprotein and a light-sensitive polyene covalently bound to the apoprotein, said polyene interacting with the apoprotein and functioning as a light-sensitive gate.
Claims21
A method for increasing or decreasing ion conductivity of a membrane, the method comprising
- inserting one or more directly light-controlled ion channels into a membrane,
- wherein the one or more directly light-controlled ion channels is a biological photoreceptor, and wherein the one or more directly light-controlled ion channels comprises:
- (a) SEQ ID NO:2,
- (b) amino acids 1 to 315 of SEQ ID NO:2, or
- (c) an amino acid sequence having at least five transmembrane helices, wherein said amino acid sequence comprises one or more conservative amino acid changes relative to the corresponding region of SEQ ID NO:2 provided that the amino acid sequence has at least 52.7% identity to SEQ ID NO:2, and comprises aspartic acid at position 253 of SEQ ID NO:2, lysine at position 257 of SEQ ID NO:2, tryptophan at position 260 of SEQ ID NO:2, glutamic acid at position 123 of SEQ ID NO:2, and histidine or arginine at position 134 of SEQ ID NO:2;
- and
- a light-sensitive retinal or retinal derivative.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.