Technology Development Initiative – Paper of the Month – August 2023

@article{pmid37081094,

title = {Engineering of NEMO as calcium indicators with large dynamics and high sensitivity},

author = {Jia Li and Ziwei Shang and Jia-Hui Chen and Wenjia Gu and Li Yao and Xin Yang and Xiaowen Sun and Liuqing Wang and Tianlu Wang and Siyao Liu and Jiajing Li and Tingting Hou and Dajun Xing and Donald L Gill and Jiejie Li and Shi-Qiang Wang and Lijuan Hou and Yubin Zhou and Ai-Hui Tang and Xiaohui Zhang and Youjun Wang},

url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37081094/},

doi = {10.1038/s41592-023-01852-9},

issn = {1548-7105},

year  = {2023},

date = {2023-06-01},

urldate = {2023-06-01},

journal = {Nat Methods},

volume = {20},

number = {6},

pages = {918--924},

abstract = {Genetically encoded calcium indicators (GECIs) are indispensable tools for real-time monitoring of intracellular calcium signals and cellular activities in living organisms. Current GECIs face the challenge of suboptimal peak signal-to-baseline ratio (SBR) with limited resolution for reporting subtle calcium transients. We report herein the development of a suite of calcium sensors, designated NEMO, with fast kinetics and wide dynamic ranges (>100-fold). NEMO indicators report Ca transients with peak SBRs around 20-fold larger than the top-of-the-range GCaMP6 series. NEMO sensors further enable the quantification of absolution calcium concentration with ratiometric or photochromic imaging. Compared with GCaMP6s, NEMOs could detect single action potentials in neurons with a peak SBR two times higher and a median peak SBR four times larger in vivo, thereby outperforming most existing state-of-the-art GECIs. Given their high sensitivity and resolution to report intracellular Ca signals, NEMO sensors may find broad applications in monitoring neuronal activities and other Ca-modulated physiological processes in both mammals and plants.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}