Visualization and Manipulation of Intracellular Signaling by Live Cell Imaging

Abstract

In order to respond to external stimuli and their own internal states, cells recognize these information through intracellular signal transduction. Although the molecular players forming the signaling network have been elucidated, it has recently attracted attention that information of external stimuli and internal states is encoded in the temporal dynamics of cell signaling. Live cell imaging is a very powerful tool to measure the dynamics of signal transduction, and the development of various biosensors allows us to understand the mechanisms underlying complex biological phenomena. In addition, the advent of optogenetics has made it possible to apply reversible manipulation of signal transduction with observing the change in cell signaling concomitantly. In this review, we introduce the state-of-the-art live cell imaging by genetically encoding biosensors and signaling manipulation by optogenetics.