Ascorbic acid may not be involved in cryptochrome-based magnetoreception.

ABSTRACT: Seventeen years after it was originally suggested, the photoreceptor protein cryptochrome remains the most probable host for the radical pair intermediates that are thought to be the sensors in the avian magnetic compass. Although evidence in favour of this hypothesis is accumulating, the intracellular interaction partners of the sensory protein are still unknown. It has been suggested that ascorbate ions could interact with surface-exposed tryptophan radicals in photoactivated cryptochromes, and so lead to the formation of a radical pair comprised of the reduced form of the flavin adenine dinucleotide cofactor, FAD^•-, and the ascorbate radical, Asc^•- This species could provide a more sensitive compass than a FAD-tryptophan radical pair. In this

SUBMITTER: Nielsen C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5746572 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature