Date: June 6, 2016
Source: Goethe University
Frankfurt
Birds have a light-dependent
compass in their eyes. This compass gives them information about the direction
of the Earth's magnetic field. Prof. Roswitha Wiltschko's research group at
Goethe University Frankfurt, together with French colleagues, has elucidated
how this compass works at the molecular level.
Birds have two sensory organs for
orientation and navigation in the Earth's magnetic field: They use their beak
to measure the strength of the magnetic field, while their eyes provide
directional information. One type of cone photoreceptors in the birds' eyes is
sensitive to UV light and also contains a form of the protein cryptochrome.
Previous studies of the Frankfurt researchers suggested that most likely it is
this protein that enables birds to detect the magnetic field.
A cyclic reaction involving one
light-dependent and one light-independent step takes place in the cryptochrome.
Two radical pairs are formed during this cycle, and their unpaired valence
electrons react to magnetic fields. The Frankfurt group, working in
collaboration with Pierre and Marie Curie University Paris, have now discovered
which of these two radical pairs is crucial for navigation in the Earth's
magnetic field.
In a behavioural study on robins,
the birds were subjected to two experimental conditions:
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