Main description:

Optogenetics is a fast-growing field concerning the invention, and use, of molecules that are genetically expressed in cells, and then either report on cellular physiology in optical form, or enable control of specific pathways in cells when actuated by light. This book reviews the current state, as well as the underlying principles and future directions, of a diversity of optogenetic tools of importance for observing and controlling cellular signaling and physiology.

These tools are already revolutionizing neuroscience, and are starting to have impact on fields ranging from metabolism to development to cardiology. The book contains a dozen chapters written by world experts on these topics, half focusing on the optogenetic molecular tools themselves, and half on the genetic and hardware approaches that make them powerfully useful in intact tissues and organisms.

Contents:

A comprehensive concept of optogenetics
Guillaume P. Dugue, Walther Akemann, and Thomas Knoepfel

Optogenetic excitation of neurons with channelrhodopsins: light instrumentation, expression systems, and channelrhodopsin variants
John Y. Lin

Genetically encoded molecular tools for light-driven silencing of targeted neurons
Brian Y. Chow, Xue Han, and Edward S. Boyden

Genetically encoded probes for optical imaging of brain electrical activity
Amelie Perron, Walther Akemann, Hiroki Mutoh and Thomas Knoepfel

Neural activity imaging with genetically encoded calcium indicators
Lin Tian, Jasper Akerboom, Eric R. Schreiter, and Loren L. Looger

Manipulating cellular processes using optical control of protein-protein interactions
Chandra L. Tucker

Two-photon optogenetics
Dan Oron, Eirini Papagiakoumou, F. Anselmi, and Valentina Emiliani

Zebrafish as an appealing model for optogenetic studies
Joshua Simmich, Eric Staykov, and Ethan Scott

Genetic targeting of specific neuronal cell types in the cerebral cortex
Alan Urban, and Jean Rossier

Mouse transgenic approaches in optogenetics
Hongkui Zeng, and Linda Madisen

Optogenetics in the nonhuman primate
Xue Han

Optogenetic Reporters: Fluorescent Protein-Based Genetically-Encoded Indicators of Signaling and Metabolism in the Brain Mathew Tantama, Yin Pun Hung,and Gary Yellen