AAV with MBP promoter driven hChR2(T159C)-mCherry

This AAV expresses hChR2(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. The wild-type, as well as a few mutations, provide the fastest excitation of the channelrhodopsins offered, and are widely used in optogenetics techniques in neuroscience. hChR2(T159C) shows slightly higher photocurrents than the hChR2(H134R), another commonly used optogenetics tool.