2017 Volume 65 Issue 4 Pages 356-358
Red-shifted channelrhodopsins (ChRs) are attractive for optogenetic tools. We developed a new type of red-shifted ChRs that utilized noncovalent incorporation of retinal and 3,4-dehydroretinal-based enamine-type Schiff bases and mutated channelopsin, C1C2-K296G. These ChRs exhibited absorption maxima that were shifted 10–30 nm toward longer wavelengths than that of C1C2-ChR regenerated with all-trans-retinal.