AAV with MBP promoter driven hChR2(E123T/T159C)-mCherry

This AAV expresses hChR2(E123T/T159C)-mCherry driven by an olgiodendricyte MBP promoter.

The myelin basic proteins (MBPs) are a family of polypeptides that are predominantly expressed in the nervous system, where they play a major role in myelination. This 1.3 Kb MBP promoter drives reporter gene expression mainly in oligodendrocytes.

hChR2 is a humanized version of ChR2 for mammalian expression. Wild-type ChR2, as well as a few of its mutations, provides the fastest excitation of the channelrhodopsins offered, and is widely used in in optogenetics techniques in neuroscience. The hChR2(E123T/T159C) double mutation combines larger photocurrents from the T159C mutation and faster kinetics from the E123T mutation showing the highest speed/photocurrent combination so far. It is referred to as the second generation ultrafast optogenetics control.