Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33536422›Full record

ArticleNature communications2021

Cryptochrome 1 mediates light-dependent inclination magnetosensing in monarch butterflies.

Guijun Wan, Ashley N Hayden, Samantha E Iiams, Christine Merlin

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
49citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
19.2field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

49 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 100 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Echolocating free-tailed bats use vision and hearing but not magnetoreception when navigating a maze.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026
    Article
  5. Article
  6. From skylight cues to magnetic fields: the toolkit of insect long-distance navigation.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026
    Review
  7. Emerging tools to advance neuroethology in butterflies and moths.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026
    Review
  8. The diversity of lepidopteran spatial orientation strategies - neuronal mechanisms and emerging challenges in a changing world.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026
    Review
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  12. Neuromorphic encoding strategies for a noisy magnetic sense.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Guijun WanDepartment of Biology and Center for Biological Clocks Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA. guijunwan@njau.edu.cn.ORCID 0000-0002-7011-1318
Ashley N HaydenDepartment of Biology and Center for Biological Clocks Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-2836-7624
Samantha E IiamsDepartment of Biology and Center for Biological Clocks Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-7474-3825
Christine MerlinDepartment of Biology and Center for Biological Clocks Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA. cmerlin@bio.tamu.edu.ORCID 0000-0003-2133-6972
Texas A&M University · USNanjing Agricultural University · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Many animals use the Earth's geomagnetic field for orientation and navigation. Yet, the molecular and cellular underpinnings of the magnetic sense remain largely unknown. A biophysical model proposed that magnetoreception can be achieved through quantum effects of magnetically-sensitive radical pairs formed by the photoexcitation of cryptochrome (CRY) proteins. Studies in Drosophila are the only ones to date to have provided compelling evidence for the ultraviolet (UV)-A/blue light-sensitive type 1 CRY (CRY1) involvement in animal magnetoreception, and surprisingly extended this discovery to the light-insensitive mammalian-like type 2 CRYs (CRY2s) of both monarchs and humans. Here, we show that monarchs respond to a reversal of the inclination of the Earth's magnetic field in an UV-A/blue light and CRY1, but not CRY2, dependent manner. We further demonstrate that both antennae and eyes, which express CRY1, are magnetosensory organs. Our work argues that only light-sensitive CRYs function in animal light-dependent inclination-based magnetic sensing.

Indexed as

Magnetic FieldsAmino Acid SequenceAnimalsArthropod AntennaeButterfliesCryptochromesEyeHumansInsect ProteinsLightMutationOrientationSensationSequence Homology, Amino AcidCryptochromesInsect Proteins

Identifiers

PMID33536422
PMCPMC7859408
OpenAlexW3126664672

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.