ArticleJournal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology2022
Broadband 75-85 MHz radiofrequency fields disrupt magnetic compass orientation in night-migratory songbirds consistent with a flavin-based radical pair magnetoreceptor.
Article in Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Directionality range in Emlen funnels.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2026Pooled it
- Magnetoreception in Cataglyphis hellenica ants.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026Article
- 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 · 2026Review
- A hybrid compass mechanism combining radical pairs and magnetite crystals.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Brain and Immune System Part II-An Integrative View upon Spatial Orientation, Learning, and Memory Function.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Weak Radiofrequency Field Effects on Biological Systems Mediated through the Radical Pair Mechanism.Chemical reviews · 2025Review
- Cryptochrome 4b protein is probably irrelevant for radical pair-based magnetoreception in the European robin.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
- Magnetosensitivity of Model Flavin-Tryptophan Radical Pairs in a Dynamic Protein Environment.The journal of physical chemistry. B · 2025Article
- European Robin Cryptochrome-4a Associates with Lipid Bilayers in an Ordered Manner, Fulfilling a Molecular-Level Condition for Magnetoreception.ACS chemical biology · 2025Article
- Magneto-oncology: a radical pair primer.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Review
- Comparison of retinol binding protein 1 with cone specific G-protein as putative effector molecules in cryptochrome signalling.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- RadicalPy: A Tool for Spin Dynamics Simulations.Journal of chemical theory and computation · 2024Article
- Species-specific circuitry of double cone photoreceptors in two avian retinas.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Orientation of birds in radiofrequency fields in the absence of the Earth's magnetic field: a possible test for the radical pair mechanism of magnetoreception.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2024Article
- Structural Rearrangements of Pigeon Cryptochrome 4 Undergoing a Complete Redox Cycle.The journal of physical chemistry. B · 2024Article
- Migratory birds are able to choose the appropriate migratory direction under dim yellow narrowband light.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Mutational Study of the Tryptophan Tetrad Important for Electron Transfer in European Robin Cryptochrome 4a.ACS omega · 2023Article
- Upper bound for broadband radiofrequency field disruption of magnetic compass orientation in night-migratory songbirds.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Morphology, biochemistry and connectivity of Cluster N and the hippocampal formation in a migratory bird.Brain structure & function · 2022Article
- Magnetic field effects in biology from the perspective of the radical pair mechanism.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The light-dependent magnetic compass sense of night-migratory songbirds can be disrupted by weak radiofrequency fields. This finding supports a quantum mechanical, radical-pair-based mechanism of magnetoreception as observed for isolated cryptochrome 4, a protein found in birds' retinas. The exact identity of the magnetically sensitive radicals in cryptochrome is uncertain in vivo, but their formation seems to require a bound flavin adenine dinucleotide chromophore and a chain of four tryptophan residues within the protein. Resulting from the hyperfine interactions of nuclear spins with the unpaired electrons, the sensitivity of the radicals to radiofrequency magnetic fields depends strongly on the number of magnetic nuclei (hydrogen and nitrogen atoms) they contain. Quantum-chemical calculations suggested that electromagnetic noise in the frequency range 75-85 MHz could give information about the identity of the radicals involved. Here, we show that broadband 75-85 MHz radiofrequency fields prevent a night-migratory songbird from using its magnetic compass in behavioural experiments. These results indicate that at least one of the components of the radical pair involved in the sensory process of avian magnetoreception must contain a substantial number of strong hyperfine interactions as would be the case if a flavin-tryptophan radical pair were the magnetic sensor.
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Registered trials
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