Neurotechnique Selective Photostimulation of Genetically Charged Neurons
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Elsevier - Publisher Connector Neuron, Vol. 33, 15–22, January 3, 2002, Copyright 2002 by Cell Press Selective Photostimulation Neurotechnique of Genetically ChARGed Neurons Boris V. Zemelman, Georgia A. Lee, Minna Ng, transmitted optical signal that can be decoded and and Gero Miesenbo¨ ck1 transduced into electrical activity by only a subset of all Laboratory of Neural Systems illuminated neurons. The “receiver” of the optical signal Cellular Biochemistry and Biophysics Program is encoded in DNA, and the responsive subset of neu- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center rons can therefore be restricted genetically (Crick, 1999; 1275 York Avenue Zemelman and Miesenbo¨ ck, 2001) to certain cell types New York, New York 10021 (through cell-type specific promoters) or circuit ele- ments (through viral vectors that spread through synap- tic contacts). Localizing the susceptibility to stimulation Summary is an inversion of the logic of existing stimulation meth- ods, which, whether electrical (Pine, 1980; Regehr et al., To permit direct functional analyses of neural circuits, 1989; Kovacs, 1994; Fromherz and Stett, 1995; Colicos we have developed a method for stimulating groups et al., 2001) or photochemical (Farber and Grinvald, of genetically designated neurons optically. Coexpres- 1983; Callaway and Katz, 1993; Dalva and Katz, 1994; sion of the Drosophila photoreceptor genes encoding Denk, 1994; Pettit et al., 1997; Matsuzaki et al., 2001), arrestin-2, rhodopsin (formed by liganding opsin with must narrowly localize the stimulus to avoid indiscrimi- retinal), and the ␣ subunit of the cognate heterotri- nate responses. Since sensitivity to light is built into meric G protein—an explosive combination we term each target neuron, advance knowledge of its spatial “chARGe”—sensitizes generalist vertebrate neurons coordinates is unnecessary. Large numbers of neurons to light. Illumination of a mixed population of neurons can be addressed simultaneously and precisely, without elicits action potentials selectively and cell-autono- undesirable cross-talk to neighboring cells that are func- mously in its genetically chARGed members. In con- tionally distinct. trast to bath-applied photostimulants or caged neuro- transmitters, which act indiscriminately throughout Results and Discussion the illuminated volume, chARGe localizes the respon- siveness to light. Distributed activity may thus be fed Because the photoreceptors of vertebrate and inverte- directly into a circumscribed population of neurons in brate eyes are naturally equipped with genetically en- intact tissue, irrespective of the spatial arrangement coded “receivers” that allow them to respond to light, of its elements. our search for sensitizing components that could be transplanted to nonphotoreceptor cells concentrated on Introduction them. Phototransduction in invertebrates (Montell, 1999; Hardie and Raghu, 2001) differs in two fundamental re- Reconstitution of biological function with pure agents– spects from that in vertebrates (Stryer, 1991; Burns and catalysis by purified enzymes, rescue of mutant pheno- Baylor, 2001): the origin and polarity of the photorecep- types by isolated genes—offers compelling insights into tor current, and the mechanism that regenerates the causality and mechanism. The instances in neurosci- light-sensitive chromophore, 11-cis retinal, from the ence where artificial stimulation of neurons has elicited bleached all-trans isomer. The first difference is due to sensations or movements (Penfield and Rasmussen, the activation of distinct classes of heterotrimeric G 1950) or influenced decisions (Salzman et al., 1990) are proteins by photoexcited metarhodopsins. Vertebrate no exception: they demonstrate most vividly and directly metarhodopsins signal through transducin to cGMP the fundamental link between mental activity and its phosphodiesterase. As cGMP is consumed, cGMP- neuronal substrate. Due to the technical difficulty of gated cation channels carrying a depolarizing dark cur- stimulating functionally circumscribed but anatomically rent close, and the photoreceptor hyperpolarizes dispersed groups of neurons, however, most artificial (Stryer, 1991; Burns and Baylor, 2001). Invertebrate stimuli are directed at single, isolated neurons or ill- metarhodopsins, in contrast, couple to a member of the defined clusters rather than the precisely delineated, Gq/11 class of heterotrimeric G proteins (Lee et al., 1990), coherent ensembles thought to be important for nervous which activates phospholipase C (PLC) (Inoue et al., system function. The ability to feed synthetic activity 1985; Bloomquist et al., 1988; Neer, 1995). In a poorly directly into such ensembles would provide a powerful understood mechanism, a product of PLC—inositol- tool for mapping functional connections and determin- 1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3), diacylglycerol, or an indirect ing the response characteristics of circuits and systems, metabolite—opens cation channels in the plasma mem- as well as for unveiling behaviorally relevant information brane (Montell and Rubin, 1989; Hardie and Minke, 1992; carried in distributed neural representations. Phillips et al., 1992; Hardie and Raghu, 2001), and the Here we describe a general method for stimulating photoreceptor depolarizes (Hardie, 1991; Ranganathan functionally circumscribed ensembles of neurons in in- et al., 1991). tact tissue, in virtually any three-dimensional arrange- Binding of arrestin inactivates metarhodopsin (Stryer, ment or anatomical location. The method uses a broadly 1991; Byk et al., 1993; Montell, 1999; Burns and Baylor, 2001) and initiates the biochemical cycle that regener- 1 Correspondence: [email protected] ates 11-cis retinal. The vertebrate cycle consists of a Neuron 16 series of enzymatically catalyzed transformations of the free chromophore, which is expelled from the sterically strained metarhodopsin-arrestin complex (Wald, 1968; Rando, 1992). The invertebrate photopigment, in con- trast, is a bistable device that does not require the disso- ciation of retinal from metarhodopsin; it relies on photo- chemistry rather than enzyme catalysis to regenerate the light-sensitive chromophore (Hillman et al., 1983; Kiselev and Subramaniam, 1994; Ranganathan and Ste- vens, 1995; Kiselev and Subramaniam, 1997). Absorption of a second photon, of lower energy than that required for the transition that activates visual transduction, isomerizes bound all-trans to 11-cis retinal and releases the regenerated rhodopsin from its complex with ar- restin (Byk et al., 1993; Ranganathan and Stevens, 1995). The Minimal “chARGe” The simplicity of its retinal cycle should enable inverte- brate phototransduction to function outside a special- ized photoreceptor environment. Expressed ectopically, the invertebrate—but not the vertebrate—transduction machinery could serve as a light-controlled source of depolarizing current to stimulate electrical activity in excitable cells, or of intracellular Ca2ϩ to activate Ca2ϩ- dependent processes such as neurotransmitter release. In a first test of this possibility, and in an effort to delin- eate the minimal set of transduction components neces- sary for sensitizing a nonphotoreceptor cell to light, Xen- opus oocytes were programmed with pools of mRNAs encoding combinations of ten proteins with genetically or biochemically defined roles in Drosophila phototrans- duction, the most thoroughly characterized invertebrate system (Montell, 1999; Hardie and Raghu, 2001). The ten Figure 1. Reconstitution of Drosophila Phototransduction in Xeno- candidate proteins included NinaE, the blue-sensitive pus Oocytes: Delineation of the Minimal ChARGe opsin of R1–R6 photoreceptors (O’Tousa et al., 1985; Membrane potentials were clamped to Ϫ80 mV and transmembrane Zuker et al., 1985); NinaA, a peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans currents recorded during periods of darkness (shaded backgrounds) isomerase implicated in folding and intracellular trans- and white illumination (white backgrounds). Inward currents are dis- played as downward deflections from baseline; the zero time point port of NinaE (Shieh et al., 1989); the major arrestin is defined as the onset of the light stimulus. Oocytes were pro- isoform, arrestin-2 (Hyde et al., 1990; LeVine et al., 1990; grammed to express: ([A], left) a “complete” set of ten phototrans- Yamada et al., 1990); the ␣, , and ␥ subunits of the duction proteins, consisting of NinaE, NinaA, arrestin-2, G␣,G␥, cognate heterotrimeric G protein (Lee et al., 1990; Yarfitz NorpA, TRP, TRPL, and InaD; ([A], right) the minimal chARGe, con- et al., 1991; Schulz et al., 1999); NorpA, an eye-specific sisting of NinaE, arrestin-2, and G␣; or (B) “complete” sets deficient PLC (Bloomquist et al., 1988); the “light-activated” cat- in the indicated single components. Although formally the product of two genes, the obligate G␥ heterodimer is treated as a single ion channels TRP and TRPL (Montell and Rubin, 1989; entity. Hardie and Minke, 1992; Phillips et al., 1992); and InaD, a multivalent adaptor thought to collect transduction components into discrete signaling units (Shieh and Nie- Illumination of oocytes expressing the full comple- meyer, 1995; Huber et al., 1996; Tsunoda et al., 1997; ment of ten photoreceptor proteins (expression of NinaE, Scott and Zuker, 1998). arrestin-2, G␣, NorpA, TRP, and InaD was confirmed by Unliganded NinaE in the membrane of voltage- immunoblotting of oocyte extracts