Bongwoori

ArcLight-derived voltage indicator with an improved voltage-sensing domain.

Category: VSD-single FP
Published: 2015-01-07 — Journal of Neuroscience 2015
Derived from: ArcLight
Response polarity: negative-going (fluorescence decreases on depolarization)
Spectrum: excitation peak 488 nm, emission peak 511 nm (Bongwoori)
Plasmid: Addgene #63720
Tags: pHluorin, Ci-VSP

Headline values (as shown in the GEVIBench table)

Metric	Value	Definition
Brightness (B/B_EGFP)	0.19× EGFP	Molecular brightness relative to EGFP (extinction coefficient × quantum yield, or a measured ratio). Sensors not measured against EGFP directly are placed through a chain of pairwise brightness comparisons, combined by geometric mean.
Kinetics τ_on / τ_off (ms)	14 / 11 ms	Activation / decay time constants in ms (amplitude-weighted mean τ for multi-exponential fits). The value shown averages the measurements made at physiological temperature (≥33 °C); if there are none, it is the measurement closest to 33 °C.
ΔF/F per 100 mV	-13%	Steady-state fluorescence change for a 100 mV depolarization step (−70 → +30 mV); the sign gives the polarity. The table shows the first listed measurement; the median across measurements (one-photon preferred) is used for sorting.
ΔF/F per mV	0.05% (estimated from the F–V curve)	Subthreshold sensitivity: fluorescence change per mV near rest (−90 to −50 mV). Where no value is reported directly, it is estimated from the F–V curve.
ΔF/F per AP	3.7% (median of 2 measurements: 3.1%)	Fluorescence change per single action potential in neurons. The table shows the first listed measurement; the median across measurements (one-photon preferred) is used for sorting.
AP width (FWHM, ms)	33 ms	Full width at half maximum of the optical spike waveform.
Photostability t75% @ 100 mW/mm²	1.2 s	Time for fluorescence to fall to 75% of its initial value under one-photon illumination, linearly dose-scaled to 100 mW/mm² (t50% is used where the 75% crossing falls inside a fast initial transient). Two-photon curves are not dose-scaled and are excluded.
Papers using it (N_used)	9	Number of published research papers, tracked by GEVIBench, that used the sensor for an experiment (a popularity / track-record measure).

Measurements and sources

Kinetics

τ_on 10 ms, τ_off 7 ms at 33°C — Piao 2015, Table 2
τ_on 17 ms, τ_off 14 ms at 34°C — Lee 2017, Table 2

ΔF/F per 100 mV

-13%, 1P — Lee 2017, Fig. 4B

ΔF/F per action potential

3.7%, 1P — Lee 2017, Table 3
2.5%, 1P — Piao 2015, Discussion

AP width (FWHM)

33.1 ms at 500 Hz sampling, Mouse, cultured hippocampal neurons, in vitro, 1P — Milosevic 2020, Fig. 1C

Brightness comparisons

0.29× the brightness of ArcLight — Lee 2017, Table 3
0.5291005291005292× the brightness of Bongwoori-R3 — Lee 2017, Table 3

Photobleaching

t75% = 124 s at 1 mW/mm², 1P — Lee 2017, Fig. S1

Fluorescence–voltage (F–V) curve

ΔF/F (%) at each membrane potential, normalized to 0 at −70 mV: -120 mV: 1%; -70 mV: 0%; -20 mV: -4%; 30 mV: -13%; 80 mV: -19%; 130 mV: -19% — Lee 2017, Fig. 4B

Research papers using Bongwoori (9)

Combinatorial mutagenesis of the voltage-sensing domain enables the optical resolution of action potentials firing at 60 Hz by a genetically encoded fluorescent sensor of membrane potential — Piao HH, et al., Journal of Neuroscience 2015 (HEK293 cells; cultured mouse hippocampal neurons, in vitro)
Improving a genetically encoded voltage indicator by modifying the cytoplasmic charge composition — Lee S, et al., Scientific Reports 2017 (HEK293 cells; cultured mouse hippocampal neurons, in vitro)
Optical consequences of a genetically-encoded voltage indicator with a pH sensitive fluorescent protein — Kang BE, et al., Neuroscience Research 2019 (HEK293 cells; cultured hippocampal neurons, in vitro)
Engineering photoactivatability in genetically encoded voltage and pH indicators — Lee S, et al., Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience 2019 (HEK293 cells, in vitro)
In vitro testing of voltage indicators: Archon1, ArcLightD, ASAP1, ASAP2s, ASAP3b, Bongwoori-Pos6, BeRST1, FlicR1, and Chi-VSFP-Butterfly — Milosevic MM, et al., eNeuro 2020 (Cultured hippocampal neurons; mouse brain slices, in vitro/ex vivo)
Mechanism of ArcLight derived GEVIs involves electrostatic interactions that can affect proton wires — Kang BE, et al., Biophysical Journal 2021 (HEK293 cells, in vitro)
Visualizing oscillations in brain slices with genetically encoded voltage indicators — Rhee JK, et al., Frontiers in Neuroanatomy 2021 (Mouse motor cortex brain slices, ex vivo)
A trafficking motif alters GEVI activity implicating persistent protein interactions at the membrane — Lee S, et al., Biophysical Reports 2022 (HEK293 cells, in vitro)
Imaging electrical activity of retinal ganglion cells with fluorescent voltage and calcium indicator proteins in retinal degenerative rd1 blind mice — Jung Y, et al., ACS Chemical Neuroscience 2025 (Mouse rd1 retinal ganglion cells, ex vivo)

Data and citation

llms.txt — summary for language models
llms-full.txt — every sensor in full (Markdown)
gevis.json — all values and measurements with sources (JSON)
gevis.csv — one row per sensor (CSV)

Cite GEVIBench as: Adam E. Cohen and Daozheng Gong (2026). Voltage imaging: A practical guide. Neuron. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2026.08.002

Generated from the GEVIBench database on 2026-10-12.