Table 1.

Optogenetic switches for controlling intracellular signaling.

Group	Switch	Co-Factor	Mode of Action	λ (Excitation)	λ (Reversion)	Excitation Time	Reversion Time	Selected Publications
Crypto-chromes	CRY2/CIB1	FAD	heterodimerization	450 nm	dark	seconds	minutes	[20]
	CRY2/CRY2	FAD	homo-oligomerization	450 nm	dark	seconds	minutes	[21]
	CRY2olig	FAD	homo-oligomerization	450 nm	dark	seconds	minutes	[25]
	CRY2clust	FAD	homo-oligomerization	450 nm	dark	seconds	minutes	[26]
	CRY2high	FAD	homo-oligomerization	450 nm	dark	seconds	minutes	[27]
	CRY2low	FAD	heterodimerization	450 nm	dark	seconds	minutes	[27]
LOV domains	AsLOV2	FMN	intramolecular conformational change	450 nm	dark	seconds	tens of seconds	[22,23]
	iLID	FMN	heterodimerization	450 nm	dark	seconds	seconds to minutes	[24]
	LOVTRAP	FMN	heterodimerization, dissociation	450 nm	dark	seconds	seconds to minutes	[28]
	Magnets	FAD	heterodimerization	450 nm	dark	seconds	seconds to hours (variants available)	[29]
	TULIP	FMN	heterodimerization	450 nm	dark	seconds	seconds to minutes	[30]
	VfAU1-LOV	FMN	homodimerization	450 nm	dark	seconds	minutes	[31]
Fluorescent proteins	pdDronpa1	none	homodimerization, dissociation	500 nm	400 nm	seconds	seconds	[32]
Cobalamin-binding domains	MxCBD	CBD	homotetramerization, dissociation	545 nm	dark	n.d.	n.d.	[33]
	TtCBD	CBD	homotetramerization, dissociation	545 nm	dark	n.d.	n.d.	[33]
Phyto-chromes	CPH1	PCB	homodimerization	660 nm	740 nm, dark	milliseconds	milliseconds	[19]
	DrBphP	Biliverdin	homodimerization, dissociation	660 nm	780 nm, dark	n.d.	n.d.	[34]
	PHYB/PIF3 & PHYB/PIF6	PCB	heterodimerization	660 nm	740 nm, dark	milliseconds	milliseconds	[18]