posted on 2015-11-20, 00:00authored byThinh Nguyen Duc, Morgan Huse
Polarized
signal transduction from cell surface receptors plays
a central role in the development and homeostasis of multicellular
organisms, and it also contributes to cellular dysfunction in many
disease states. Understanding the molecular and cellular bases of
polarized signaling requires experimental methods that provide precise
spatiotemporal control of receptor activation. However, we currently
lack strategies for inducing both sustained and spatially constrained
signal transduction. In the present study, we combined synthetic and
cell biological tools to develop a generalizable photoactivation approach
for the stimulation of cell surface receptors. Our system, which is
based upon the local decaging of a “universal” peptide
ligand, is particularly well suited for the live imaging of single
cells. We anticipate that it will greatly facilitate future mechanistic
analyses of polarized signal transduction in a variety of cell types.