Animal cryptochromes mediate magnetoreception by an unconventional photochemical mechanism

Robert J. Gegear (), Lauren E. Foley, Amy Casselman and Steven M. Reppert ()
Additional contact information
Robert J. Gegear: University of Massachusetts Medical School, 364 Plantation Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, USA
Lauren E. Foley: University of Massachusetts Medical School, 364 Plantation Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, USA
Amy Casselman: University of Massachusetts Medical School, 364 Plantation Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, USA
Steven M. Reppert: University of Massachusetts Medical School, 364 Plantation Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, USA

Nature, 2010, vol. 463, issue 7282, 804-807

Abstract: Insect magnetoreception Just how animals are able to use the Earth's magnetic field for navigation is the subject of much current interest. It is known that the UV-A/blue light photoreceptor cryptochrome (Cry) mediates the light-dependent magnetic sense in Drosophila. Steven Reppert and colleagues now use genetic manipulation to show that two cryptochromes from the monarch butterfly, Drosophila-like Cry1 and vertebrate-like Cry2, can restore magnetic sensation in cry-deficient Drosophila. This suggests that both types of Cry have the capacity to sense magnetic fields in the migratory monarch butterfly via a mechanism that remains unclear — and that light sensitivity is involved in some way.

Date: 2010
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature08719 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:463:y:2010:i:7282:d:10.1038_nature08719

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature08719

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().