Main Menu (Mobile)- Block

Main Menu - Block

janelia7_blocks-janelia7_secondary_menu | block
janelia7_blocks-janelia7_fake_breadcrumb | block
Lavis Lab / Publications
general_search_page-panel_pane_1 | views_panes

8 Publications

Showing 1-8 of 8 results
Your Criteria:
    Lavis LabLooger Lab
    12/23/20 | Directed Evolution of a Selective and Sensitive Serotonin Sensor via Machine Learning.
    Unger EK, Keller JP, Altermatt M, Liang R, Matsui A, Dong C, Hon OJ, Yao Z, Sun J, Banala S, Flanigan ME, Jaffe DA, Hartanto S, Carlen J, Mizuno GO, Borden PM, Shivange AV, Cameron LP, Sinning S, Underhill SM, Olson DE, Amara SG, Temple Lang D, Rudnick G, Marvin JS, Lavis LD, Lester HA, Alvarez VA, Fisher AJ, Prescher JA, Kash TL, Yarov-Yarovoy V, Gradinaru V, Looger LL, Tian L
    Cell. 2020 Dec 23;183(7):1986-2002.e26. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.11.040

    Serotonin plays a central role in cognition and is the target of most pharmaceuticals for psychiatric disorders. Existing drugs have limited efficacy; creation of improved versions will require better understanding of serotonergic circuitry, which has been hampered by our inability to monitor serotonin release and transport with high spatial and temporal resolution. We developed and applied a binding-pocket redesign strategy, guided by machine learning, to create a high-performance, soluble, fluorescent serotonin sensor (iSeroSnFR), enabling optical detection of millisecond-scale serotonin transients. We demonstrate that iSeroSnFR can be used to detect serotonin release in freely behaving mice during fear conditioning, social interaction, and sleep/wake transitions. We also developed a robust assay of serotonin transporter function and modulation by drugs. We expect that both machine-learning-guided binding-pocket redesign and iSeroSnFR will have broad utility for the development of other sensors and in vitro and in vivo serotonin detection, respectively.

    View Publication Page
    11/01/18 | Stability, affinity and chromatic variants of the glutamate sensor iGluSnFR.
    Marvin JS, Scholl B, Wilson DE, Podgorski K, Kazemipour A, Mueller JA, Schoch-McGovern S, Wang SS, Quiroz FJ, Rebola N, Bao H, Little JP, Tkachuk AN, Hantman AW, Chapman ER, Dietrich D, DiGregorio DA, Fitzpatrick D, Looger LL
    Nature Methods. 2018 Nov;15(11):9386-9. doi: 10.1038/s41592-018-0171-3

    Single-wavelength fluorescent reporters allow visualization of specific neurotransmitters with high spatial and temporal resolution. We report variants of intensity-based glutamate-sensing fluorescent reporter (iGluSnFR) that are functionally brighter; detect submicromolar to millimolar amounts of glutamate; and have blue, cyan, green, or yellow emission profiles. These variants could be imaged in vivo in cases where original iGluSnFR was too dim, resolved glutamate transients in dendritic spines and axonal boutons, and allowed imaging at kilohertz rates.

    View Publication Page
    05/05/16 | Real-time quantification of single RNA translation dynamics in living cells.
    Morisaki T, Lyon K, DeLuca KF, DeLuca JG, English BP, Zhang Z, Lavis LD, Grimm JB, Viswanathan S, Looger LL
    Science. 2016 May 05;352(6292):1425-9. doi: 10.1126/science.aaf0899

    Although mRNA translation is a fundamental biological process, it has never been imaged in real-time with single molecule precision in vivo. To achieve this, we developed Nascent Chain Tracking (NCT), a technique that uses multi-epitope tags and antibody-based fluorescent probes to quantify single mRNA protein synthesis dynamics. NCT reveals an elongation rate of ~10 amino acids per second, with initiation occurring stochastically every ~30 s. Polysomes contain ~1 ribosome every 200-900 nucleotides and are globular rather than elongated in shape. By developing multi-color probes, we show most polysomes act independently; however, a small fraction (~5%) form complexes in which two distinct mRNAs can be translated simultaneously. The sensitivity and versatility of NCT make it a powerful new tool for quantifying mRNA translation kinetics.

    View Publication Page
    Lavis LabLooger Lab
    07/17/15 | Ketamine Inside Neurons?
    Lester HA, Lavis LD, Dougherty DA
    American Journal of Psychiatry. 2015 Jul 17;172(11):1064-6. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2015.14121537
    Looger LabLavis Lab
    07/29/14 | Integrated action of pheromone signals in promoting courtship behavior in male mice.
    Haga-Yamanaka S, Ma L, He J, Qiu Q, Lavis LD, Looger LL, Yu CR
    eLife. 2014 Jul 29;3:e03025. doi: 10.7554/eLife.03025

    The mammalian vomeronasal organ encodes pheromone information about gender, reproductive status, genetic background and individual differences. It remains unknown how pheromone information interacts to trigger innate behaviors. In this study, we identify vomeronasal receptors responsible for detecting female pheromones. A sub-group of V1re clade members recognizes gender-identifying cues in female urine. Multiple members of the V1rj clade are cognate receptors for urinary estrus signals, as well as for sulfated estrogen (SE) compounds. In both cases, the same cue activates multiple homologous receptors, suggesting redundancy in encoding female pheromone cues. Neither gender-specific cues nor SEs alone are sufficient to promote courtship behavior in male mice, whereas robust courtship behavior can be induced when the two cues are applied together. Thus, integrated action of different female cues is required in pheromone-triggered mating behavior. These results suggest a gating mechanism in the vomeronasal circuit in promoting specific innate behavior.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03025.001.

    View Publication Page
    Looger LabLavis Lab
    04/01/12 | A genetically encoded fluorescent protein in echinoderms marks the history of neuronal activity.
    Verdecia MA, Looger LL, Lavis L, Graumann J, Mandel G, Brehm P
    Luminescence. 2012 Apr;27:170

    Since the original identification of GFP from jellyfish and corals, the genetically encoded fluorescent proteins have become mainstream indicators for imaging. Functionally homologous candidates exist in more highly evolved bioluminescent invertebrates, including echinoderms. For example, in brittlestars, stimulus-evoked bioluminescence is transient, lasting seconds, and emanates from specialized cells (photocytes). Prior to light emission, we observe little or no green fluorescence. However, concurrent with light emission, an intense green, calcium-dependent fluorescence develops that persists indefinitely.

    View Publication Page
    Sternson LabLooger LabLavis Lab
    03/27/12 | Selective esterase-ester pair for targeting small molecules with cellular specificity.
    Tian L, Yang Y, Wysocki LM, Arnold AC, Hu A, Ravichandran B, Sternson SM, Looger LL, Lavis LD
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2012 Mar 27;109:4756-61. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1111943109

    Small molecules are important tools to measure and modulate intracellular signaling pathways. A longstanding limitation for using chemical compounds in complex tissues has been the inability to target bioactive small molecules to a specific cell class. Here, we describe a generalizable esterase-ester pair capable of targeted delivery of small molecules to living cells and tissue with cellular specificity. We used fluorogenic molecules to rapidly identify a small ester masking motif that is stable to endogenous esterases, but is efficiently removed by an exogenous esterase. This strategy allows facile targeting of dyes and drugs in complex biological environments to label specific cell types, illuminate gap junction connectivity, and pharmacologically perturb distinct subsets of cells. We expect this approach to have general utility for the specific delivery of many small molecules to defined cellular populations.

    View Publication Page
    02/22/12 | Excitation spectra and brightness optimization of two-photon excited probes.
    Mütze J, Iyer V, Macklin JJ, Colonell J, Karsh B, Petrá\v sek Ze, Schwille P, Looger LL, Lavis LD, Harris TD
    Biophysical Journal. 2012 Feb 22;102(4):934-44. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2011.12.056

    Two-photon probe excitation data are commonly presented as absorption cross section or molecular brightness (the detected fluorescence rate per molecule). We report two-photon molecular brightness spectra for a diverse set of organic and genetically encoded probes with an automated spectroscopic system based on fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. The two-photon action cross section can be extracted from molecular brightness measurements at low excitation intensities, while peak molecular brightness (the maximum molecular brightness with increasing excitation intensity) is measured at higher intensities at which probe photophysical effects become significant. The spectral shape of these two parameters was similar across all dye families tested. Peak molecular brightness spectra, which can be obtained rapidly and with reduced experimental complexity, can thus serve as a first-order approximation to cross-section spectra in determining optimal wavelengths for two-photon excitation, while providing additional information pertaining to probe photostability. The data shown should assist in probe choice and experimental design for multiphoton microscopy studies. Further, we show that, by the addition of a passive pulse splitter, nonlinear bleaching can be reduced-resulting in an enhancement of the fluorescence signal in fluorescence correlation spectroscopy by a factor of two. This increase in fluorescence signal, together with the observed resemblance of action cross section and peak brightness spectra, suggests higher-order photobleaching pathways for two-photon excitation.

    View Publication Page