Optogenetics offers a set of tools for the precise manipulation of signaling pathways. Here we exploit optogenetics to experimentally change the kinetics of protein-protein interactions on demand. We had developed a system in which the interaction of a modified T cell receptor (TCR) with an engineered ligand can be controlled by light. The ligand was the plant photoreceptor phytochrome B (PhyB) and the TCR included a TCRβ chain fused to GFP and a mutated PhyB-interacting factor (PIFS), resulting in the GFP-PIFS-TCR. We failed to engineer a nonfluorescent PIFS-fused TCR, since PIFS did not bind to PhyB when omitting GFP. Here we tested nine different versions of PIFS-fused TCRs. We found that the SNAP-PIFS-TCR was expressed well on the surface, bound to PhyB, and subsequently elicited activation signals. This receptor could be combined with a GFP reporter system in which the expression of GFP is driven by the transcription factor NF-AT.
Keywords: NF-AT reporter; T cell receptor; interaction; ligand; optogenetics; phytochrome B.