Temperature-sensitive proteins would enable the remote control of cellular functions deep within tissues, although few such proteins have been characterized. Melt is a protein that reversibly clusters and translocates to the membrane in response to small temperature changes, enabling flexible regulation of cellular processes in vitro and in vivo.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Glantz, S. T. et al. Directly light-regulated binding of RGS-LOV photoreceptors to anionic membrane phospholipids. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 115, E7720–E7727 (2018). This article reports the initial characterization of BcLOV4 and its application as an optogenetic protein in mammalian cells.
Benman, W. et al. Temperature-responsive optogenetic probes of cell signaling. Nat. Chem. Biol. 18, 152–160 (2022). This article describes the dual responsiveness to light and temperature of BcLOV4.
Pal, A. A. et al. Optogenetic clustering and membrane translocation of the BcLOV4 photoreceptor. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA. 120, e2221615120 (2023). This article describes how BcLOV4 oligomerizes and translocates to the membrane upon light stimulation, and how both behaviors can be used for optogenetic tools.
Piraner, D. I. et al. Modular thermal control of protein dimerization. ACS Synth. Biol. 8, 2256–2262 (2019). This article presents the development of temperature-controllable heterodimeric coiled-coils.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This is a summary of: Benman, W. et al. A temperature-inducible protein module for control of mammalian cell fate. Nat. Methods https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-024-02572-4 (2025).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Precision control of cellular functions with a temperature-sensitive protein. Nat Methods (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-024-02573-3
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-024-02573-3
