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Photosensitive Molecules for Controlling Biological Function pp 267–285Cite as

Photoswitchable Ligand-Gated Ion Channels

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Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 55))

Abstract

Ligand-activated proteins can be controlled with light by means of synthetic photoisomerizable tethered ligands (PTLs). The application of PTLs to ligand-gated ion channels, including the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor and ionotropic glutamate receptors, is reviewed with emphasis on rational photoswitch design and the mechanisms of optical switching. Recently reported molecular dynamic methods allow simulation with high reliability of novel PTLs for any ligand-activated protein whose structure is known.

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Acknowledgments

P.G. is supported by the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) through a Career Development Award, by the European Research Council (ERC) through a Starting Grant, by the FET-ICT programme of the European Commission and by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (Spain). This work was supported by the NIH Nanomedicine Development Center for the Optical Control of Biological Function (5PN2EY018241) and by Human Frontier Science Program Grant RPG23-2005. The authors are grateful to H. Lester for providing useful references and comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya (IBEC), Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA) and CIBER-BBN, Barcelona, Spain

    Pau Gorostiza

  2. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Ehud Y. Isacoff

  3. Divisions of Material and Physical Bioscience, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Ehud Y. Isacoff

Authors
  1. Pau Gorostiza
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  2. Ehud Y. Isacoff
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ehud Y. Isacoff .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, North Pleasant Street 710, Amherst, 01003, Massachusetts, USA

    James J. Chambers

  2. , Dept. of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, 94720-3200, California, USA

    Richard H. Kramer

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© 2011 Humana Press

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Gorostiza, P., Isacoff, E.Y. (2011). Photoswitchable Ligand-Gated Ion Channels. In: Chambers, J., Kramer, R. (eds) Photosensitive Molecules for Controlling Biological Function. Neuromethods, vol 55. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-031-7_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-031-7_14

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61779-030-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-61779-031-7

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