@article {65854, title = {Improved genetically encoded near-infrared fluorescent calcium ion indicators for in vivo imaging.}, journal = {PLoS Biology}, volume = {18}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 Nov 24}, pages = {e3000965}, abstract = {

Near-infrared (NIR) genetically encoded calcium ion (Ca2+) indicators (GECIs) can provide advantages over visible wavelength fluorescent GECIs in terms of reduced phototoxicity, minimal spectral cross talk with visible light excitable optogenetic tools and fluorescent probes, and decreased scattering and absorption in mammalian tissues. Our previously reported NIR GECI, NIR-GECO1, has these advantages but also has several disadvantages including lower brightness and limited fluorescence response compared to state-of-the-art visible wavelength GECIs, when used for imaging of neuronal activity. Here, we report 2 improved NIR GECI variants, designated NIR-GECO2 and NIR-GECO2G, derived from NIR-GECO1. We characterized the performance of the new NIR GECIs in cultured cells, acute mouse brain slices, and Caenorhabditis elegans and Xenopus laevis in vivo. Our results demonstrate that NIR-GECO2 and NIR-GECO2G provide substantial improvements over NIR-GECO1 for imaging of neuronal Ca2+ dynamics.

}, issn = {1545-7885}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pbio.3000965}, author = {Qian, Yong and Cosio, Danielle M Orozco and Piatkevich, Kiryl D and Aufmkolk, Sarah and Su, Wan-Chi and Celiker, Orhan T and Schohl, Anne and Murdock, Mitchell H and Abhi Aggarwal and Chang, Yu-Fen and Wiseman, Paul W and Ruthazer, Edward S and Boyden, Edward S and Campbell, Robert E} } @article {65634, title = {Precision Calcium Imaging of Dense Neural Populations via a Cell-Body-Targeted Calcium Indicator.}, journal = {Neuron}, volume = {107}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 Aug 01}, pages = {470}, abstract = {

Methods for one-photon fluorescent imaging of calcium dynamics can capture the activity of hundreds of neurons across large fields of view at a low equipment complexity and cost. In contrast to two-photon methods, however, one-photon methods suffer from higher levels of crosstalk from neuropil, resulting in a decreased signal-to-noise ratio and artifactual correlations of neural activity. We address this problem by engineering cell-body-targeted variants of the fluorescent calcium indicators GCaMP6f and GCaMP7f. We screened fusions of GCaMP to natural, as well as artificial, peptides and identified fusions that localized GCaMP to within 50\ μm of the cell body of neurons in mice and larval zebrafish. One-photon imaging of soma-targeted GCaMP in dense neural circuits reported fewer artifactual spikes from neuropil, an increased signal-to-noise ratio, and decreased artifactual correlation across neurons. Thus, soma-targeting of fluorescent calcium indicators facilitates usage of simple, powerful, one-photon methods for imaging neural calcium dynamics.

}, issn = {1097-4199}, doi = {10.1016/j.neuron.2020.05.029}, author = {Shemesh, Or A and Linghu, Changyang and Piatkevich, Kiryl D and Goodwin, Daniel and Celiker, Orhan Tunc and Gritton, Howard J and Romano, Michael F and Gao, Ruixuan and Yu, Chih-Chieh Jay and Tseng, Hua-An and Bensussen, Seth and Narayan, Sujatha and Yang, Chao-Tsung and Freifeld, Limor and Siciliano, Cody A and Gupta, Ishan and Wang, Joyce and Pak, Nikita and Yoon, Young-Gyu and Ullmann, Jeremy F P and Guner-Ataman, Burcu and Noamany, Habiba and Sheinkopf, Zoe R and Park, Won Min and Asano, Shoh and Keating, Amy E and Trimmer, James S and Reimer, Jacob and Tolias, Andreas S and Bear, Mark F and Tye, Kay M and Han, Xue and Ahrens, Misha B and Boyden, Edward S} } @article {56204, title = {A genetically encoded near-infrared fluorescent calcium ion indicator.}, journal = {Nature Methods}, volume = {16}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Jan 21}, pages = {171-4}, abstract = {

We report an intensiometric, near-infrared fluorescent, genetically encoded calcium ion (Ca) indicator (GECI) with excitation and emission maxima at 678 and 704 nm, respectively. This GECI, designated NIR-GECO1, enables imaging of Ca transients in cultured mammalian cells and brain tissue with sensitivity comparable to that of currently available visible-wavelength GECIs. We demonstrate that NIR-GECO1 opens up new vistas for multicolor Ca imaging in combination with other optogenetic indicators and actuators.

}, issn = {1548-7105}, doi = {10.1038/s41592-018-0294-6}, author = {Qian, Yong and Piatkevich, Kiryl D and Mc Larney, Benedict and Abdelfattah, Ahmed S and Mehta, Sohum and Murdock, Mitchell H and Gottschalk, Sven and Molina, Rosana S and Zhang, Wei and Chen, Yingche and Wu, Jiahui and Drobizhev, Mikhail and Hughes, Thomas E and Zhang, Jin and Schreiter, Eric R and Shoham, Shy and Razansky, Daniel and Boyden, Edward S and Campbell, Robert E} } @article {49060, title = {A robotic multidimensional directed evolution approach applied to fluorescent voltage reporters.}, journal = {Nature Chemical Biology}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Feb 26}, abstract = {

We developed a new way to engineer complex proteins toward multidimensional specifications using a simple, yet scalable, directed evolution strategy. By robotically picking mammalian cells that were identified, under a microscope, as expressing proteins that simultaneously exhibit several specific properties, we can screen hundreds of thousands of proteins in a library in just a few hours, evaluating each along multiple performance axes. To demonstrate the power of this approach, we created\ a genetically encoded fluorescent voltage indicator, simultaneously optimizing its\ brightness and membrane localization using our microscopy-guided cell-picking strategy. We produced the high-performance opsin-based fluorescent voltage reporter Archon1 and demonstrated its utility by imaging spiking and millivolt-scale subthreshold and synaptic activity in acute mouse brain slices and in larval zebrafish in vivo. We also measured postsynaptic responses downstream of optogenetically controlled neurons in C. elegans.

}, issn = {1552-4469}, doi = {10.1038/s41589-018-0004-9}, author = {Piatkevich, Kiryl D and Jung, Erica E and Straub, Christoph and Linghu, Changyang and Park, Demian and Suk, Ho-Jun and Hochbaum, Daniel R and Goodwin, Daniel and Pnevmatikakis, Eftychios and Pak, Nikita and Kawashima, Takashi and Yang, Chao-Tsung and Rhoades, Jeffrey L and Shemesh, Or and Asano, Shoh and Yoon, Young-Gyu and Freifeld, Limor and Saulnier, Jessica L and Riegler, Clemens and Engert, Florian and Hughes, Thom and Drobizhev, Mikhail and Szabo, Balint and Ahrens, Misha B and Flavell, Steven W and Sabatini, Bernardo L and Boyden, Edward S} } @article {47602, title = {Protein-retention expansion microscopy of cells and tissues labeled using standard fluorescent proteins and antibodies.}, journal = {Nature Biotechnology}, volume = {34}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Jul 4}, pages = {987-92}, abstract = {

Expansion microscopy (ExM) enables imaging of preserved specimens with nanoscale precision on diffraction-limited instead of specialized super-resolution microscopes. ExM works by physically separating fluorescent probes after anchoring them to a swellable gel. The first ExM method did not result in the retention of native proteins in the gel and relied on custom-made reagents that are not widely available. Here we describe protein retention ExM (proExM), a variant of ExM in which proteins are anchored to the swellable gel, allowing the use of conventional fluorescently labeled antibodies and streptavidin, and fluorescent proteins. We validated and demonstrated the utility of proExM for multicolor super-resolution (\~{}70 nm) imaging of cells and mammalian tissues on conventional microscopes.

}, issn = {1546-1696}, doi = {10.1038/nbt.3625}, author = {Tillberg, Paul and Chen, Fei and Piatkevich, Kiryl D and Zhao, Yongxin and Yu, Chih-Chieh Jay and English, Brian P and Gao, Linyi and Martorell, Anthony and Suk, Ho-Jun and Yoshida, Fumiaki and DeGennaro, Ellen M and Roossien, Douglas H and Gong, Guanyu and Seneviratne, Uthpala and Tannenbaum, Steven R and Desimone, Robert and Cai, Dawen and Boyden, Edward S} } @article {45699, title = {Photoswitchable red fluorescent protein with a large stokes shift.}, journal = {Chemistry \& Biology}, volume = {21}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Oct 23}, pages = {1402-14}, abstract = {

A subclass of fluorescent proteins (FPs), large Stokes shift (LSS) FP, are characterized by increased spread between excitation and emission maxima. We report a photoswitchable variant of a red FP with an LSS, PSLSSmKate, which initially exhibits excitation and emission at 445 and 622\ nm, but violet irradiation photoswitches PSLSSmKate into a common red form with excitation and emission at 573 and 621\ nm. We characterize spectral, photophysical, and biochemical properties of PSLSSmKate in\ vitro and in mammalian cells and determine its crystal structure in the LSS form. Mass spectrometry, mutagenesis, and spectroscopy of PSLSSmKate allow us\ to propose molecular mechanisms for the LSS, pH dependence, and light-induced chromophore transformation. We demonstrate the applicability of PSLSSmKate to superresolution photoactivated localization microscopy and protein dynamics in live cells. Given its promising properties, we expect that PSLSSmKate-like phenotype will be further used for photoactivatable imaging and tracking multiple populations of intracellular objects.

}, issn = {1879-1301}, doi = {10.1016/j.chembiol.2014.08.010}, author = {Piatkevich, Kiryl D and English, Brian P and Malashkevich, Vladimir N and Xiao, Hui and Almo, Steven C and Singer, Robert H and Verkhusha, Vladislav V} }