Since neuroscience has not got any popular two-photon compatible fast voltage sensitive dye, it is good to know some laboratories are still working on improved calcium fluorescence sensors. The brand new competitor is jYCaMP1. Dr. Kaspar Podgorski and his colleagues reported a red-shifted sensor which is compatible with affordable fixed wavelength laser sources. The jYCaMP1 is a redshifted variant of jGCaMP7 but it is 1.8-fold brighter and 1.6-fold ∆F/F in L2/3 V1 mouse neurons under 1,030nm illumination. The longer excitation wavelength also helps to go deeper in the tissue or even to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. They claimed even single action potentials can be detected which could open new horizons in behaving experiments. Let’s see how it will go!
Schematic of jYCaMP1 mutations (red spheres) overlaid on the GCaMP structure (right). One-photon and two-photon excitation and emission spectra.