Magnetically sensitive light-induced reactions in cryptochrome are consistent with its proposed role as a magnetoreceptor.

Journal article

Among the biological phenomena that fall within the emerging field of "quantum biology" is the suggestion that magnetically sensitive chemical reactions are responsible for the magnetic compass of migratory birds. It has been proposed that transient radical pairs are formed by photo-induced electron transfer reactions in cryptochrome proteins and that their coherent spin dynamics are influenced by the geomagnetic field leading to changes in the quantum yield of the signaling state of the prot...

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Authors: Maeda, K; Robinson, A; Henbest, K; Hogben, H; Biskup, T

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
• Volume: 109
• Issue: 13
• Pages: 4774-4779
• Publication date: 2012-03-01
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1118959109
• EISSN: 1091-6490
• ISSN: 0027-8424
• Language: English
• Keywords: Electrons; Cryptochromes; Escherichia coli Proteins; Kinetics; Arabidopsis; Spectrum Analysis; Magnetics; Photochemistry; Escherichia coli; Absorption; Receptors, Cell Surface; Arabidopsis Proteins; Flavin-Adenine Dinucleotide; Tryptophan; Light; Magnetic Fields