Multistepped optogenetics connects neurons and behavior

Abstract

Summary Our knowledge of the morphology, development and behavioral functions of neurons is limited and yet is essential for understanding the animal nervous system. Optogenetics is a powerful recently developed tool with which to induce behaviors by activating specific neurons [1,2]; however, its successful application often depends on the availability of specific regulatory sequences. Here we describe a multistep optogenetic approach in which an infrared laser is used to induce expression in a small group of neurons in zebrafish of channelorhodopsin (ChR2) fused to a fluorescent protein, and then the morphologies of the neurons and the behaviors induced by blue-light irradiation are investigated (Figure 1A). This strategy can be used to simultaneously explore the anatomy and behavioral functions of known and unknown neurons in vivo .