Dopamine is a neurotransmitter involved in key functions of the brain, e.g. motor control, reward, arousal, or motivation. To better understand the modulation of dopamine, it is fundamental to benefit from tools allowing both the manipulation of neuronal circuits and the recording of fluorescent signals in the brain, particularly in freely moving animals.

To perform such experiments, it is recommended that optogenetic actuators and imaging sensors spectra do not overlap. Therefore, expanding the fluorescent indicators palette is the key to successful multi-color imaging experiments.

In this new Nature Method article, Patriarchi et al. designed yellow-shifted and red-shifted dopamine sensors. Following their development of dLight1, a green fluorescent protein-based DA sensor, the team created YdLight1 – 525nm emission peak - and RdLight1 – 588nm emission peak. Exciting work!

More information can be found following this link: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-020-0936-3.