The analysis of 20 coral genomic datasets provides unprecedented insights into what makes reef-building corals unique, including the evolution of novel gene families involved in biomineralization, signaling and stress responses that have led to their evolutionary success throughout the Phanerozoic Eon.

An in silico reconstruction of a chloroplast that existed hundreds of millions of years ago casts new insights in the evolutionary processes, endosymbioses and chimerism events that shape the origin of plastids.

A high axonal chloride concentration explains why activation of light-gated chloride channels causes neurotransmitter release, and a novel hybrid somatodendritic targeting motif ameliorates this phenomenon and improves their inhibitory function.

The atomic structure of GtACR1 provides new insight into the chemical mechanism of natural light-gated anion membrane conductance, and enables its optimization for optogenetic photoinhibition of neuron firing.

Electrophysiology measurements characterized eight optogenetic methods, including a new reporter mouse expressing soma-localized light-activated chloride channels, for inactivating small regions of mouse neocortex.

The PreBötzinger complex, which contains neurons that are the kernel for inspiratory rhythm generation, also contains sympathoexcitatory and parasympathoinhibitory neurons that drive respiratory-phase oscillations in blood pressure and heart rate.

Ancient evolutionary signatures reveal mechanistic details of substrate specificity in copper-transporting mitochondria carrier family proteins.

Substrate-induced structural changes in GtACR1 provide new insight into the chemical mechanism of natural light-gated anion conductance and facilitate its optimization for photoinhibition of neuron firing in optogenetics.

Asp234 is deprotonated in the ground state and forms the proton transfer pathway that proceeds from the Schiff base toward Glu68 in the intermediate state of the anion channelrhodopsin GtACR1.

A viral heliorhodopsin from Emiliania huxleyi virus 202 (V2HeR3) is a light-activated proton transporter, which has the potential to depolarize the host cells by light, possibly to overcome the host defense mechanisms or to prevent superinfection.