The DOI matches its Crossref record; 61 of the 62 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A Model for Photoreceptor-Based Magnetoreception in Birds
Open accessAbstract
A large variety of animals has the ability to sense the geomagnetic field and utilize it as a source of directional (compass) information. It is not known by which biophysical mechanism this magnetoreception is achieved. We investigate the possibility that magnetoreception involves radical-pair processes that are governed by anisotropic hyperfine coupling between (unpaired) electron and nuclear spins. We will show theoretically that fields of geomagnetic field strength and weaker can produce significantly different reaction yields for different alignments of the radical pairs with the magnetic field. As a model for a magnetic sensory organ we propose a system of radical pairs being 1) orientationally ordered in a molecular substrate and 2) exhibiting changes in the reaction yields that affect the visual transduction pathway. We evaluate three-dimensional visual modulation patterns that can arise from the influence of the geomagnetic field on radical-pair systems. The variations of these patterns with orientation and field strength can furnish the magnetic compass ability of birds with the same characteristics as observed in behavioral experiments. We propose that the recently discovered photoreceptor cryptochrome is part of the magnetoreception system and suggest further studies to prove or disprove this hypothesis.
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“In recent years, quantum biology too has been benefitting considerably from the refinement of experimental tools that are beginning to provide direct access to the observation of quantum dynamics in biological systems [11-14]”
From Vibrations, quanta and biology (2013) · cites this paper as [11]
In the citing paper
“environment assisted excitation energy transport in photosynthesis [11, 15, 16], magneto-reception of birds [17-19] and the mechanism underlying olfaction [20, 21], for which there is some compelling theoretical and/or experimental evidence that quantum phenomena are essential for their understanding.”
From Vibrations, quanta and biology (2013) · cites this paper as [11]
Citations
Cites
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Steiner, U. E., & Ulrich, T. (1989) · Chemical Reviews · doi:10.1021/cr00091a003 · Cited by 1,660
Cryptochromes: Blue Light Receptors for Plants and Animals
Cashmore, A. R., Jarillo, J. A., Wu, Y., & Liu, D. (1999) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.284.5415.760 · Cited by 1,027
Magnetic Compass of European Robins
Wiltschko, W., & Wiltschko, R. (1972) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.176.4030.62 · Cited by 752
Magnetic Orientation in Animals
Wiltschko, R., & Wiltschko, W. (1995) · Zoophysiology · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-79749-1 · Cited by 741
Structure and function of DNA photolyase
Sancar, A. (1994) · Biochemistry · doi:10.1021/bi00167a001 · Cited by 664
A Stochastic Theory of Line Shape
Kubo, R. (1969) · Advances in chemical physics · doi:10.1002/9780470143605.ch6 · Cited by 447
A Biomagnetic Sensory Mechanism Based on Magnetic Field Modulated Coherent Electron Spin Motion
Schulten, K., Swenberg, C. E., & Weller, A. (1978) · Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie · doi:10.1524/zpch.1978.111.1.001 · Cited by 430
Self-citationBiogenic magnetite as a basis for magnetic field detection in animals
Kirschvink, J. L., & Gould, J. L. (1981) · Biosystems · doi:10.1016/0303-2647(81)90060-5 · Cited by 415
Animal Migration, Navigation, and Homing
(1978) · Proceedings in life sciences · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-11147-5 · Cited by 414
Grissom, C. B. (1995) · Chemical Reviews · doi:10.1021/cr00033a001 · Cited by 409
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Cited by
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Colloquium : Quantum coherence as a resource
Streltsov, A., Adesso, G., & Plenio, M. B. (2017) · Reviews of Modern Physics · doi:10.1103/revmodphys.89.041003 · Cited by 1,878
14-Qubit Entanglement: Creation and Coherence
Monz, T., Schindler, P., Barreiro, J. T., Chwalla, M., Nigg, D., Coish, W. A., Harlander, M., Hänsel, W., Hennrich, M., & Blatt, R. (2011) · Physical Review Letters · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.106.130506 · Cited by 1,110
Lambert, N., Chen, Y.-N., Cheng, Y.-C., Li, C.-M., Chen, G.-Y., & Nori, F. (2013) · Nature Physics · doi:10.1038/nphys2474 · Cited by 948
The cryptochromes: blue light photoreceptors in plants and animals
Chaves, I., Pokorny, R., Byrdin, M., Hoang, N., Ritz, T., Brettel, K., Essen, L.-O., van der Horst, G. T. J., Batschauer, A., & Ahmad, M. (2011) · Annual Review of Plant Biology · doi:10.1146/annurev-arplant-042110-103759 · Cited by 845
Self-citationThe Radical-Pair Mechanism of Magnetoreception
Hore, P. J., & Mouritsen, H. (2016) · Annual Review of Biophysics · doi:10.1146/annurev-biophys-032116-094545 · Cited by 813
“In 2000, Schulten’s suggestion changed overnight from interesting curiosity to intriguing possibility when he, Adem, and Ritz wrote an article (162) that both made the 1978 proposal accessible to biologists and suggested a specific molecule in which appropriate radical pairs might be formed.”
BackgroundInfluential
Metadata
- Authors
- Ritz, T., Adem, S., & Schulten, K.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Corresponding author
- Schulten, Klaus
- Venue
- Biophysical Journal
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2000-02
- Volume
- 78
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 707-718
- ISSN
- 0006-3495 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC1300674
- OpenAlex
- W2138668594
- Cited by
- 1,176
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 68 · 2025: 63 · 2024: 49 · 2023: 66 · 2022: 62 · 2021: 71 · 2020: 59 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 58 · 2017: 71 · 2016: 59 · 2015: 46 · 2014: 73 · 2013: 36 · 2012: 42
- FWCI
- 8.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Biophysical Journal (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Center for Research Resources (P41RR005969)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biophysics › Electromagnetic Fields and Biological Effects
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Spectroscopy › Electron Spin Resonance Studies
- Keywords
- magnetoreception, birds, geomagnetic field, radical pairs, cryptochrome, photoreceptors, hyperfine interaction, magnetic compass, phototransduction, reaction yield
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Birds, Eye Proteins, Flavoproteins, Homing Behavior, Magnetics, Models, Biological, Visual Perception, Anisotropy, Photoreceptor Cells, Invertebrate, Photoreceptor Cells, Vertebrate, Drosophila Proteins, Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled, Cryptochromes
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