Imaging of Morphological and Biochemical Hallmarks of Apoptosis with Optimized Optogenetic Actuators

The creation of pathway-specific optogenetic switches for the activation of cell death pathways can provide insight into the mechanisms of apoptosis and also form a basis for non-invasive, next generation therapeutic strategies. Previous work has employed the Cryptochrome 2 (Cry2)/CIB, a blue light activated protein – protein dimerization module from A. thaliana in conjunction with BAX, an OMM targeting pro-apoptotic protein, for light-mediated initiation of mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP) and downstream apoptosis. In this work, we have further developed our original light activated Cry2-BAX system (henceforth referred to as “OptoBAX”) by improving the photophysical properties and light-independent interaction of our optogenetic switch. The resulting optogenetic constructs have significantly reduced the frequency of light exposure required for the activation of membrane permeabilization, in addition to reducing dark state cytotoxicity. Furthermore, we have utilized OptoBAX in a series of experiments designed to measure the timing of the dramatic morphological and biochemical changes that occur in apoptotic cells following light-induced permeabilization of the outer mitochondrial membrane. Utilizing this data, we construct a timeline of biochemical and morphological events in early apoptosis, in addition to tracking the MOMP-induced redistribution of actin, a protein critical to apoptotic progression.