Asal Ghaffari Zaki,, Hamzah Issa, Seyed Mohammad Miri, Joudi Armouch, Asel Aydeger, Sena Yıldırım, Refia Zeynep Mete, Omar Aljundi, Emre Vatandaslar, Tuba Akgul Caglar, Şeyma Çimen, Esra Nur Yiğit, Mehmet Şerif Aydın,, Muhammed İkbal Alp, Toghrul Almammadov, Sven Vilain, Emrah Eroglu
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a signaling molecule with a plethora of biological functions, yet precision tools for modulating its intracellular flux remain scarce. Conventional small-molecule donors and enzymatic systems often suffer from off-target reactivity, uncontrolled release kinetics, and redox crosstalk, confounding mechanistic studies. Here, we establish a Salmonella typhimurium d-cysteine desulfhydrase (stDCyD)-derived chemogenetic tool for controlled H2S manipulation in living cells. stDCyD catalyzes the α,β-elimination of d-cysteine to selectively yield bioavailable H2S. We term this tool H2SWITCH. Our approach exhibits pronounced enantioselectivity for d-cysteine, robust catalytic efficiency at physiological temperatures, and temporal tunability through substrate dosing. This chemogenetic tool provides a chemically defined and interference-free method to unravel the physiological and pathological roles of H2S with unprecedented precision in complex biological systems.