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NTnC-like genetically encoded calcium indicator with a positive and enhanced response and fast kinetics

  • Natalia V. Barykina
  • , Danila A. Doronin
  • , Oksana M. Subach
  • , Vladimir P. Sotskov
  • , Viktor V. Plusnin
  • , Olga A. Ivleva
  • , Anna M. Gruzdeva
  • , Tatiana A. Kunitsyna
  • , Olga I. Ivashkina
  • , Alexander A. Lazutkin
  • , Aleksey Y. Malyshev
  • , Ivan V. Smirnov
  • , Anna M. Varizhuk
  • , Galina E. Pozmogova
  • , Kiryl D. Piatkevich
  • , Konstantin V. Anokhin
  • , Grigori Enikolopov
  • , Fedor V. Subach
  • Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology
  • Russian Academy of Sciences
  • Russian Research Centre Kurchatov Institute
  • Lomonosov Moscow State University
  • Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of RAS
  • Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University
  • Federal Medical-Biological Agency
  • Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R.
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

The NTnC genetically encoded calcium indicator has an advantageous design because of its smaller size, GFP-like N- and C-terminal ends and two-fold reduced number of calcium binding sites compared with widely used indicators from the GCaMP family. However, NTnC has an inverted and modest calcium response and a low temporal resolution. By replacing the mNeonGreen fluorescent part in NTnC with EYFP, we engineered an NTnC-like indicator, referred to as YTnC, that had a positive and substantially improved calcium response and faster kinetics. YTnC had a 3-fold higher calcium response and 13.6-fold lower brightness than NTnC in vitro. According to stopped-flow experiments performed in vitro, YTnC had 4-fold faster calcium-dissociation kinetics than NTnC. In HeLa cells, YTnC exhibited a 3.3-fold lower brightness and 4.9-fold increased response to calcium transients than NTnC. The spontaneous activity of neuronal cultures induced a 3.6-fold larger ΔF/F response of YTnC than previously shown for NTnC. On patched neurons, YTnC had a 2.6-fold lower ΔF/F than GCaMP6s. YTnC successfully visualized calcium transients in neurons in the cortex of anesthetized mice and the hippocampus of awake mice using single- and two-photon microscopy. Moreover, YTnC outperformed GCaMP6s in the mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum of cultured HeLa and neuronal cells.

Original languageEnglish
Article number15233
JournalScientific Reports
Volume8
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2018

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