Broadband 75-85 MHz radiofrequency fields disrupt magnetic compass orientation in night-migratory songbirds consistent with a flavin-based radical pair magnetoreceptor.

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 calcu

SUBMITTER: Leberecht B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8918455 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature