Bright and photostable chemigenetic indicators for extended in vivo voltage imaging

Abstract

Visualizing neuronal activity in vivo Imaging the changes in fluorescence of voltage-sensitive reagents would enable monitoring of the activity of neurons in vivo. Abdelfattah et al. created such a voltage indicator by designing a protein that combines the voltage sensor domain from microbial rhodopsin with a domain that captures a dye molecule with exceptional brightness and photostability. When the protein was expressed in mice, flies, or zebrafish, they could monitor single action potentials in dozens of neurons simultaneously for many minutes. Science , this issue p. 699