Curated Optogenetic Publication Database

Abstract: Optogenetics is a technique employing natural or genetically engineered photoreceptors in transgene organisms to manipulate biological activities with light. Light can be turned on or off, and adjusting its intensity and duration allows optogenetic fine-tuning of cellular processes in a noninvasive and spatiotemporally resolved manner. Since the introduction of Channelrhodopsin-2 and phytochrome-based switches nearly 20 years ago, optogenetic tools have been applied in a variety of model organisms with enormous success, but rarely in plants. For a long time, the dependence of plant growth on light and the absence of retinal, the rhodopsin chromophore, prevented the establishment of plant optogenetics until recent progress overcame these difficulties. We summarize the recent results of work in the field to control plant growth and cellular motion via green light-gated ion channels and present successful applications to light-control gene expression with single or combined photoswitches in plants. Furthermore, we highlight the technical requirements and options for future plant optogenetic research.

Abstract: The H2 + H2 system has long been considered a benchmark system for ro-vibrational energy transfer in bimolecular collisions. However, most studies thus far have focused on collisions involving H2 molecules in the ground vibrational level or in the first excited vibrational state. While H2 + H2/HD collisions have received wide attention due to the important role they play in astrophysics, D2 + D2 collisions have received much less attention. Recently, Zhou et al. [ Nat. Chem. 2022, 14, 658-663, DOI: 10.1038/s41557-022-00926-z] examined stereodynamic aspects of rotational energy transfer in collisions of two aligned D2 molecules prepared in the v = 2 vibrational level and j = 2 rotational level. Here, we report quantum calculations of rotational and vibrational energy transfer in collisions of two D2 molecules prepared in vibrational levels up to v = 2 and identify key resonance features that contribute to the angular distribution in the experimental results of Zhou et al. The quantum scattering calculations were performed in full dimensionality and using the rigid-rotor approximation using a recently developed highly accurate six-dimensional potential energy surface for the H4 system that allows descriptions of collisions involving highly vibrationally excited H2 and its isotopologues.