rAAV-EF1α-DIO-hChR2(H134R)-mCherry

Channelrhodopsins are light-gated ion channels that exist naturally in microalgae. hChR2 is a humanized version of ChR2 for mammalian expression. It is maximally excited by 470 nm light. The wild-type, as well as a few mutations, provide the fastest excitation of the channelrhodopsins offered, and are widely used in optogenetics techniques in neuroscience. Due to delayed channel closure, hChR2(H134R) is a gain-of-function mutation that produces larger photocurrents than wild-type hChR2, but slows down channel kinetics.