Journal article : Review
The radical-pair mechanism of magnetoreception
- Abstract:
- Although it has been known for almost half a century that migratory birds can detect the direction of the Earth's magnetic field, the primary sensory mechanism behind this remarkable feat is still unclear. The leading hypothesis centres on radical pairs — magnetically sensitive chemical intermediates formed by photoexcitation of cryptochrome proteins in the retina. Our primary aim here is to explain the chemical and physical aspects of the radical pair mechanism to biologists and the biological and chemical aspects to physicists. In doing so, we review the current state of knowledge on magnetoreception mechanisms. We dare to hope that this tutorial will stimulate new inter-disciplinary experimental and theoretical work that will shed much-needed additional light on this fascinating problem in sensory biology.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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Access Document
- Files:
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(Preview, Author's original, pdf, 3.0MB, Terms of use)
-
- Publisher copy:
- 10.1146/annurev-biophys-032116-094545
Authors
+ Volkswagen Group (Germany)
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- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/01f3bhg26
- Funding agency for:
- Mouritsen, H
- Grant:
- Lichtenberg Professur
+ Seventh Framework Programme
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- Funding agency for:
- Hore, PJ
- Grant:
- FA9550-14-1-0095
+ Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
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- Funding agency for:
- Mouritsen, H
- Grant:
- GRK 1885
+ Air Force Materiel Command
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- Funding agency for:
- Hore, PJ
- Grant:
- FA9550-14-1-0095
+ EMF Biological Research Trust
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- Funding agency for:
- Hore, PJ
- Grant:
- FA9550-14-1-0095
- Publisher:
- Annual Reviews
- Journal:
- Annual Review of Biophysics More from this journal
- Volume:
- 45
- Issue:
- 1
- Pages:
- 299-344
- Publication date:
- 2016-05-16
- Acceptance date:
- 2016-04-27
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1936-1238
- ISSN:
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1936-122X
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Subtype:
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Review
- Pubs id:
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pubs:619126
- UUID:
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uuid:c1e3c8ca-98b3-4e9d-8efd-0b9ad9b965eb
- Local pid:
-
pubs:619126
- Source identifiers:
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619126
- Deposit date:
-
2016-08-12
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Annual Reviews
- Copyright date:
- 2016
- Rights statement:
- © Annual Reviews.
- Notes:
- This is the author's original manuscript version of the article, posted with permission from the Annual Review of Biophysics. The final version is available online from Annual Reviews at https://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-biophys-032116-094545
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