1. Optogenetic manipulation of cellular communication in axolotls
- Author
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Maria Barna, Nicolas Denans, Hannah D. Rosenblatt, Zijian Zhang, Yingfei Liu, Marius Wernig, and Olena Zhulyn
- Subjects
Cellular communication ,Computer science ,macromolecular substances ,Optogenetics ,Neuroscience - Abstract
Cells communicate through long cellular protrusions such as filopodia and neurites. However current approaches to study these contact-based cellular communication are largely limited to actin-depolymerizing drugs or genetic knockout of key actin modifiers which can cause severe cellular stress or semi-lethality in organisms. Here we present a versatile optogenetic toolbox of artificial myosin motors that can move bidirectionally within long cellular extensions and allow for the selective transport of GFP-tagged cargo using light. Importantly, we discover that these long filopodial extensions are also gradually developed during axolotl limb regeneration, where we applied our toolbox to manipulate the composition and dynamics of these cellular extensions.
- Published
- 2021
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