Selective control of synaptically-connected circuit elements by all-optical synapses

Abstract

Prakash et al. develop an approach to control synaptically connected elements using bioluminescent light, in which Luciferase-generated light, originating from a presynaptic axon terminal, modulates an opsin in its postsynaptic target to form an ‘optical synapse’. They validate their optical synapses in cultured neurons and in mice in vivo and show that they provide an approach to achieve synapse-specific and activity-dependent circuit control in vivo.