Light-mediated Reversible Modulation of the Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Pathway during Cell Differentiation and Xenopus Embryonic Development.

Kinase activity is crucial for a plethora of cellular functions, including cell proliferation, differentiation, migration, and apoptosis. During early embryonic development, kinase activity is highly dynamic and widespread across the embryo. Pharmacological and genetic approaches are commonly used to probe kinase activities. Unfortunately, it is challenging to achieve superior spatial and temporal resolution using these strategies. Furthermore, it is not feasible to control the kinase activity in a reversible fashion in live cells and multicellular organisms. Such a limitation remains a bottleneck for achieving a quantitative understanding of kinase activity during development and differentiation. This work presents an optogenetic strategy that takes advantage of a bicistronic system containing photoactivatable proteins Arabidopsis thaliana cryptochrome 2 (CRY2) and the N-terminal domain of cryptochrome-interacting basic-helix-loop-helix (CIBN). Reversible activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway is achieved through light-mediated protein translocation in live cells. This approach can be applied to mammalian cell cultures and live vertebrate embryos. This bicistronic system can be generalized to control the activity of other kinases with similar activation mechanisms and can be applied to other model systems.

Reversible optogenetic control of kinase activity during differentiation and embryonic development.

A limited number of signaling pathways are repeatedly used to regulate a wide variety of processes during development and differentiation. The lack of tools to manipulate signaling pathways dynamically in space and time has been a major technical challenge for biologists. Optogenetic techniques, which utilize light to control protein functions in a reversible fashion, hold promise for modulating intracellular signaling networks with high spatial and temporal resolution. Applications of optogenetics in multicellular organisms, however, have not been widely reported. Here, we create an optimized bicistronic optogenetic system using Arabidopsis thaliana cryptochrome 2 (CRY2) protein and the N-terminal domain of cryptochrome-interacting basic-helix-loop-helix (CIBN). In a proof-of-principle study, we develop an optogenetic Raf kinase that allows reversible light-controlled activation of the Raf/MEK/ERK signaling cascade. In PC12 cells, this system significantly improves light-induced cell differentiation compared with co-transfection. When applied to Xenopus embryos, this system enables blue light-dependent reversible Raf activation at any desired developmental stage in specific cell lineages. Our system offers a powerful optogenetic tool suitable for manipulation of signaling pathways with high spatial and temporal resolution in a wide range of experimental settings.

Benzophenone-based photochemical micropatterning of biomolecules to create model substrates and instructive biomaterials.

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a dynamic and heterogeneous environment that controls many aspects of cell behavior. Not surprisingly, many different approaches have focused on creating model substrates that recapitulate the biomolecular, topographical, and mechanical properties of the ECM for in vitro studies of cell behavior. This chapter details a general, versatile method for the spatially controlled deposition of multiple biomolecules onto both planar and topographically complex support structures with micrometer resolution. This approach is based upon the well-understood photochemical UV crosslinking of benzophenone (BP) to solution-phase biomolecules. This is a molecularly general strategy that can be utilized to immobilize biomolecules onto any surface prefunctionalized with BP. Examples described herein include modification of planar and corrugated glass substrates as well as collagen-glycosaminoglycan biomaterials configured either as highly porous scaffolds or nonporous membranes with a variety of biomolecular targets, including proteins, glycoproteins, and carbohydrates.