ArticleJournal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology2017
Radical-pair-based magnetoreception in birds: radio-frequency experiments and the role of cryptochrome.
Article in Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Weak Radiofrequency Field Effects on Biological Systems Mediated through the Radical Pair Mechanism.Chemical reviews · 2025Review
- Full-Length Cryptochrome 1 in the Outer Segments of the Retinal Blue Cone Photoreceptors in Humans and Great Apes Suggests a Role Beyond Transcriptional Repression.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2025Article
- Effects of low-level RF fields reveal complex pattern of magnetic input to the avian magnetic compass.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Environmental sources of radio frequency noise: potential impacts on magnetoreception.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2022Review
- Electromagnetic 0.1-100 kHz noise does not disrupt orientation in a night-migrating songbird implying a spin coherence lifetime of less than 10 µs.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2019Article
- Magnetoreception in birds.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2019Review
- Magnetoreception: activation of avian cryptochrome 1a in various light conditions.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2018Article
- Very weak oscillating magnetic field disrupts the magnetic compass of songbird migrants.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The radical-pair hypothesis of magnetoreception has gained a lot of momentum, since the flavoprotein cryptochrome was postulated as a structural candidate to host magnetically sensitive chemical reactions. Here, we first discuss behavioral tests using radio-frequency magnetic fields (0.1-10 MHz) to specifically disturb a radical-pair-based avian magnetic compass sense. While disorienting effects of broadband RF magnetic fields have been replicated independently in two competing labs, the effects of monochromatic RF magnetic fields administered at the electronic Larmor frequency (~1.3 MHz) are disparate. We give technical recommendations for future RF experiments. We then focus on two candidate magnetoreceptor proteins in birds, Cry1a and Cry1b, two splice variants of the same gene (Cry1). Immunohistochemical studies have identified Cry1a in the outer segments of the ultraviolet/violet-sensitive cone photoreceptors and Cry1b in the cytosol of retinal ganglion cells. The identification of the host neurons of these cryptochromes and their subcellular expression patterns presents an important advance, but much work lies ahead to gain some functional understanding. In particular, interaction partners of cryptochrome Cry1a and Cry1b remain to be identified. A candidate partner for Cry4 was previously suggested, but awaits independent replication.
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