sodium-selective channelrhodopsins
Protein DomainThis review highlights the natural occurrence and engineered variants of sodium-selective channelrhodopsins (NaChRs), emphasizing their importance in optogenetic applications. These tools offer enhanced specificity in Na+ ion conduction, reducing unwanted effects from other ions, and generating strong depolarizing currents. Some of the NaChRs showed nearly no desensitization upon light illumination.