The DOI matches its Crossref record; 221 of the 222 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Radical-Pair Mechanism of Magnetoreception
Open accessAbstract
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 centers 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 interdisciplinary experimental and theoretical work that will shed much-needed additional light on this fascinating problem in sensory biology.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Magnetic fields alter the coherent interconversion between singlet and triplet configurations, and because these spin states lead to different reaction outcomes, reaction yields are determined by spin coherence rather than reaction energetics [33,34,35].”
From The Heart’s Electromagnetic Field in Emotions, Empathy and Human Connection: Biosensor-Derived Insights into Heart–Brain Axis Mechanisms and a Basis for Novel BioMagnetoTherapies (2026) · cites this paper as [35]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“While RPM does not directly address the cardiac field or emotional processes, it provides an experimental and theoretical basis that renders the hypothesis regarding biologic systems’ sensitivity to such weak magnetic fields mechanistically plausible.”
From The Heart’s Electromagnetic Field in Emotions, Empathy and Human Connection: Biosensor-Derived Insights into Heart–Brain Axis Mechanisms and a Basis for Novel BioMagnetoTherapies (2026) · cites this paper as [35]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Although its nanotesla-scale strength (0.1–1 nT) poses a significant limitation for conventional biological interpretation, stochastic resonance and the radical pair mechanism offer plausible theoretical frameworks through which weak magnetic fields could exert measurable effects under specific conditions [35,36,37,38,39].”
From The Heart’s Electromagnetic Field in Emotions, Empathy and Human Connection: Biosensor-Derived Insights into Heart–Brain Axis Mechanisms and a Basis for Novel BioMagnetoTherapies (2026) · cites this paper as [35]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“The Radical Pair Mechanism (RPM) proposes that magnetic fields can influence chemical reactions by modulating the quantum spin dynamics of transient radical pairs.”
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Massagué, J. (1998) · Annual Review of Biochemistry · doi:10.1146/annurev.biochem.67.1.753 · Cited by 7,571
Nature of biological electron transfer
Moser, C. C., Keske, J. M., Warncke, K., Farid, R., & Dutton, P. L. (1992) · Nature · doi:10.1038/355796a0 · Cited by 1,875
The Migration Ecology of Birds
Newton, I., & Brockie, K. (2007) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-517367-4.x5000-1 · Cited by 1,864
Blakemore, R. P. (1975) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.170679 · Cited by 1,714
Magnetic field effects in chemical kinetics and related phenomena
Steiner, U. E., & Ulrich, T. (1989) · Chemical Reviews · doi:10.1021/cr00091a003 · Cited by 1,660
Structure and Function of DNA Photolyase and Cryptochrome Blue-Light Photoreceptors
Sancar, A. (2003) · Chemical Reviews · doi:10.1021/cr0204348 · Cited by 1,317
HY4 gene of A. thaliana encodes a protein with characteristics of a blue-light photoreceptor
Ahmad, M., & Cashmore, A. R. (1993) · Nature · doi:10.1038/366162a0 · Cited by 1,279
Parallel processing in the mammalian retina
Wässle, H. (2004) · Nature reviews. Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn1497 · Cited by 1,253
Heterotrimeric G protein activation by G-protein-coupled receptors
Oldham, W. M., & Hamm, H. E. (2007) · Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology · doi:10.1038/nrm2299 · Cited by 1,234
A Model for Photoreceptor-Based Magnetoreception in Birds
Ritz, T., Adem, S., & Schulten, K. (2000) · Biophysical Journal · doi:10.1016/s0006-3495(00)76629-x · Cited by 1,176 · cited 4×
“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
Research works printed but not linked: 9
- Alerstam T, 1988, Anser, 27, 181
- Emlen ST, 1980, Acta XVII Congr. Intern. Ornithol., Berlin, 553
- Forbes MDE, 2013, Adv. Phys. Org. Chem., 47, 1
- Frisch MJ, 2004, Gaussian 03, Revision C.02
- Gomperts BD, 2013, Signal Transduction
- 79. Hore PJ. 2011. The quantum robin. Navigation News , November/December, pp. 15–17
- Perdeck AC., 1958, Ardea, 46, 1
- 166. Rodgers CT. 2007. Magnetic field effects in chemical systems . PhD thesis, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
- Salikhov KM, 1984, Spin Polarization and Magnetic Field Effects in Radical Reactions
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Long-distance navigation and magnetoreception in migratory animals
Mouritsen, H. (2018) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0176-1 · Cited by 547
Self-citationMagnetic sensitivity of cryptochrome 4 from a migratory songbird
Xu, J., Jarocha, L. E., Zollitsch, T. M., Konowalczyk, M., Henbest, K. B., Richert, S., Golesworthy, M. J., Schmidt, J., Déjean, V., Sowood, D. J. C., et al. (2021) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03618-9 · Cited by 433
Self-citationRecent Advances in Magnetic Field-Enhanced Electrocatalysis
Zhang, Y., Liang, C., Wu, J., Liu, H., Zhang, B., Jiang, Z., Li, S., & Xu, P. (2020) · ACS Applied Energy Materials · doi:10.1021/acsaem.0c02104 · Cited by 282
Electrochemistry in Magnetic Fields
Luo, S., Elouarzaki, K., & Xu, Z. J. (2022) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.202203564 · Cited by 282
Günther, A., Einwich, A., Sjulstok, E., Feederle, R., Bolte, P., Koch, K.-W., Solov’yov, I. A., & Mouritsen, H. (2018) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.003 · Cited by 204
“Its location in the outer segments of the double cones makes Cry4 an even likelier magnetoreception candidate, because the hundreds of parallel cell membranes in photoreceptor outer segments would facilitate an at least partial alignment of the cryptochromes relative to one another [7, 18, 22, 23, 26], and a magnetic…”
InfluentialSelf-citationMagnetic field effects in biology from the perspective of the radical pair mechanism
Zadeh-Haghighi, H., & Simon, C. (2022) · Journal of The Royal Society Interface · doi:10.1098/rsif.2022.0325 · Cited by 197
Quantum Biology: An Update and Perspective
Kim, Y., Bertagna, F., D’Souza, E. M., Heyes, D. J., Johannissen, L. O., Nery, E. T., Pantelias, A., Jiménez, A. S.-P., Slocombe, L., Spencer, M. G., et al. (2021) · Quantum Reports · doi:10.3390/quantum3010006 · Cited by 187
“Ferricyanide oxidises the FAD so that the radical photochemistry proceeds in a similar fashion to the photoreduction of cryptochrome.”
BackgroundInfluentialChemical and structural analysis of a photoactive vertebrate cryptochrome from pigeon
Zoltowski, B. D., Chelliah, Y., Wickramaratne, A. C., Jarocha, L. E., Karki, N., Xu, W., Mouritsen, H., Hore, P. J., Hibbs, R. E., Green, C. B., et al. (2019) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1907875116 · Cited by 164
“In such a system, the Earth’s magnetic field can alter the relative populations of singlet and triplet electronic states, enabling a field-dependent bias to affect a signaling state (5, 6).”
BackgroundSelf-citationDreyer, D., Frost, B. J., Mouritsen, H., Günther, A., Green, K., Whitehouse, M., Johnsen, S., Heinze, S., & Warrant, E. J. (2018) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.030 · Cited by 157
Self-citationTransduction of the Geomagnetic Field as Evidenced from alpha-Band Activity in the Human Brain
Wang, C. X., Hilburn, I. A., Wu, D.-A. J., Mizuhara, Y., Cousté, C. P., Abrahams, J. N. H., Bernstein, S. E., Matani, A., Shinsuke Shimojo, A., & Kirschvink, J. L. (2019) · eNeuro · doi:10.1523/eneuro.0483-18.2019 · Cited by 154
Magnetoreception—A sense without a receptor
Nordmann, G. C., Hochstoeger, T., & Keays, D. A. (2017) · PLoS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2003234 · Cited by 149
“According to the favored model, a long-lived radical pair is formed when light induces the transfer of electrons to this FAD moiety along a triad of tryptophan residues in the Cry molecule (Fig 2B) [31,36].”
BackgroundBiological effects of the hypomagnetic field: An analytical review of experiments and theories
Binhi, V. N., & Prato, F. S. (2017) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0179340 · Cited by 148
Pan, H., Jiang, X., Wang, X., Wang, Q., Wang, M., & Shen, Y. F. (2019) · The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters · doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.9b03146 · Cited by 129
Molecular Ratchets and Kinetic Asymmetry: Giving Chemistry Direction
Borsley, S., Leigh, D. A., & Roberts, B. M. W. (2024) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.202400495 · Cited by 116
Phylogenetic and Functional Classification of the Photolyase/Cryptochrome Family
Öztürk, N. (2016) · Photochemistry and Photobiology · doi:10.1111/php.12676 · Cited by 111
“Although Type-2 CRYs of some birds have been suggested to function in magnetoreception (42), experimental evidence for a photosensory function is needed to support this hypothesis.”
BackgroundSherrard, R. M., Morellini, N. M., Jourdan, N., El-Esawi, M. A., Arthaut, L.-D., Nießner, C., Rouyer, F., Klarsfeld, A., Doulazmi, M., Witczak, J., et al. (2018) · PLoS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2006229 · Cited by 112
“that, although there has been overwhelming evidence for a radical pair-based magnetic sensing mechanism involving vertebrate cryptochromes [13], the possibility of unrelated cry-dependent magnetosensing mechanisms cannot be excluded.”
BackgroundPooam, M., Arthaut, L.-D., Burdick, D., Link, J. J., Martino, C. F., & Ahmad, M. (2018) · Planta · doi:10.1007/s00425-018-3002-y · Cited by 109
Cryptochrome 1 mediates light-dependent inclination magnetosensing in monarch butterflies
Wan, G., Hayden, A. N., Iiams, S. E., & Merlin, C. (2021) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21002-z · Cited by 110
Fu, X., Jiskra, M., Yang, X., Marusczak, N., Enrico, M., Chmeleff, J., Heimbürger‐Boavida, L., Gheusi, F., & Sonke, J. E. (2021) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/acs.est.1c02568 · Cited by 106
Diamond surface engineering for molecular sensing with nitrogen—vacancy centers
Janitz, E., Herb, K., Vӧlker, L. A., Huxter, W. S., Degen, C. L., & Abendroth, J. M. (2022) · Journal of Materials Chemistry C · doi:10.1039/d2tc01258h · Cited by 119
Hochstoeger, T., Said, T. A., Maestre, D., Walter, F., Vilceanu, A., Pedron, M., Cushion, T. D., Snider, W., Nimpf, S., Nordmann, G. C., et al. (2020) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.abb9110 · Cited by 100
Millitesla magnetic field effects on the photocycle of an animal cryptochrome
Sheppard, D. M. W., Li, J., Henbest, K. B., Neil, S. R. T., Maeda, K., Storey, J. G., Schleicher, E., Biskup, T., Rodriguez, R., Weber, S., et al. (2017) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/srep42228 · Cited by 100
Self-citationSwimming with magnets: From biological organisms to synthetic devices
Klumpp, S., Lefèvre, C., Bennet, M., & Faivre, D. (2019) · Physics reports · doi:10.1016/j.physrep.2018.10.007 · Cited by 78
Vertebrate Cryptochromes are Vestigial Flavoproteins
Kutta, R. J., Archipowa, N., Johannissen, L. O., Jones, A. R., & Scrutton, N. S. (2017) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/srep44906 · Cited by 98
“The current chemical model of CRY as magnetoreceptor requires photoexcitation of FAD for generation of the magnetically sensitive radical pair 7 .”
Electron spin relaxation can enhance the performance of a cryptochrome-based magnetic compass sensor
Kattnig, D. R., Sowa, J. K., Solov’yov, I. A., & Hore, P. J. (2016) · New Journal of Physics · doi:10.1088/1367-2630/18/6/063007 · Cited by 94
Self-citationQuantum Computing for Molecular Biology**
Baiardi, A., Christandl, M., & Reiher, M. (2023) · ChemBioChem · doi:10.1002/cbic.202300120 · Cited by 93
Single-Molecule Magnetoluminescence from a Spatially Confined Persistent Diradical Emitter
Matsuoka, R., Kimura, S., Miura, T., Ikoma, T., & Kusamoto, T. (2023) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/jacs.3c01076 · Cited by 92
Experimental indications of non-classical brain functions
Kerskens, C. M., & López Pérez, D. (2022) · Journal of Physics Communications · doi:10.1088/2399-6528/ac94be · Cited by 88
Motta, L. C., Kritee, K., Blum, J. D., Tsui, M. T., & Reinfelder, J. R. (2020) · The Journal of Physical Chemistry A · doi:10.1021/acs.jpca.9b06308 · Cited by 90
Coupling of mechanical deformation and electromagnetic fields in biological cells
Torbati, M., Mozaffari, K., Liu, L., & Sharma, P. (2022) · Reviews of Modern Physics · doi:10.1103/revmodphys.94.025003 · Cited by 92
Long-term exposure to a hypomagnetic field attenuates adult hippocampal neurogenesis and cognition
Zhang, B., Wang, L., Zhan, A., Wang, M., Tian, L., Guo, W., & Pan, Y. (2021) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21468-x · Cited by 86
Exposure to Static and Extremely-Low Frequency Electromagnetic Fields and Cellular Free Radicals
Lai, H. C. (2019) · Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine · doi:10.1080/15368378.2019.1656645 · Cited by 86
Spin-selected electron transfer in liquid–solid contact electrification
Lin, S., Zhu, L., Tang, Z. A., & Wang, Z. L. (2022) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-022-32984-9 · Cited by 86
Winkler, R., Ciria, M., Ahmad, M., Plank, H., & Marcuello, C. (2023) · Nanomaterials · doi:10.3390/nano13182585 · Cited by 86
“To explain the magnetic field response characteristics of cryptochromes, quantum physical principles have been invoked for the Radical Pair mechanism of biological mag-netosensing [200].”
BackgroundCircadian rhythms in zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) behaviour and the sources of their variability
Крылов, В. В., Izvekov, E. I., Pavlova, V. V., Pankova, N. A., & Osipova, E. A. (2020) · Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · doi:10.1111/brv.12678 · Cited by 84
“Cryptochromes, which are key elements of transcription–translation negative feedback loops are thought to be a possible biological magnetodetector (Solov’yov, Chandler & Schulten, 2007; Hore & Mouritsen, 2016).”
BackgroundCellular autofluorescence is magnetic field sensitive
Ikeya, N., & Woodward, J. (2021) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2018043118 · Cited by 79
Hiscock, H. G., Mouritsen, H., Manolopoulos, D. E., & Hore, P. J. (2017) · Biophysical Journal · doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2017.07.031 · Cited by 82
“Additionally, doubt has been cast on the physical interpretation of the experiments (4,19).”
BackgroundSelf-citationRadical-Pair-Based Magnetoreception Amplified by Radical Scavenging: Resilience to Spin Relaxation
Kattnig, D. R. (2017) · The Journal of Physical Chemistry B · doi:10.1021/acs.jpcb.7b07672 · Cited by 80
Magnetic Strategies for Nervous System Control
Christiansen, M. G., Senko, A. W., & Anikeeva, P. (2019) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev-neuro-070918-050241 · Cited by 79
“Physiol 191: 675–693 [PubMed: 15886990] Winklhofer M, Mouritsen H. 2016 A magnetic protein compass? bioRxiv: 094607 Wu W, Wu Z, Yu T, Jiang C, Kim W-S.”
BackgroundInfluentialInteractions between electromagnetic radiation and biological systems
Liu, L., Huang, B., Lu, Y., Zhao, Y., Tang, X., & Shi, Y. (2024) · iScience · doi:10.1016/j.isci.2024.109201 · Cited by 80
Cryptochrome magnetoreception: four tryptophans could be better than three
Wong, S. Y., Wei, Y., Mouritsen, H., Solov’yov, I. A., & Hore, P. J. (2021) · Journal of The Royal Society Interface · doi:10.1098/rsif.2021.0601 · Cited by 76
“The axial nature [1,9] and the light-dependence [10] of the birds’ responses to the geomagnetic field, together with the involvement of the birds’ visual system in processing magnetic compass information [11,12], are consistent with the formation of transient, magnetically sensitive radical pairs in photoreceptor cell…”
BackgroundSelf-citationPinzon-Rodriguez, A., Bensch, S., & Muheim, R. (2018) · Journal of The Royal Society Interface · doi:10.1098/rsif.2018.0058 · Cited by 75
Yap, J. L. Y., Tai, Y. K., Fröhlich, J., Fong, C. H. H., Yin, J. N., Foo, Z. L., Ramanan, S., Beyer, C., Toh, S. J., Casarosa, M., et al. (2019) · The FASEB Journal · doi:10.1096/fj.201900057r · Cited by 74
“vin radical-pair production (60), wherein electron”
BackgroundMolecular qubits based on photogenerated spin-correlated radical pairs for quantum sensing
Mani, T. (2022) · Chemical Physics Reviews · doi:10.1063/5.0084072 · Cited by 73
Electronic spin separation induced by nuclear motion near conical intersections
Wu, Y., & Subotnik, J. E. (2021) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-020-20831-8 · Cited by 71
Natal imprinting to the Earth’s magnetic field in a pelagic seabird
Wynn, J., Padget, O., Mouritsen, H., Perrins, C. M., & Guilford, T. (2020) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.05.039 · Cited by 71
Self-citationLacombat, F., Espagne, A., Dozova, N., Plaza, P., Müller, P., Brettel, K., Franz-Badur, S., & Essen, L. (2019) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/jacs.9b03680 · Cited by 70
Viability of superoxide-containing radical pairs as magnetoreceptors
Player, T. C., & Hore, P. J. (2019) · The Journal of Chemical Physics · doi:10.1063/1.5129608 · Cited by 69
Self-citationKattnig, D. R., & Hore, P. J. (2017) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-017-09914-7 · Cited by 73
“(2) Large values of kC lead to significant magnetic field effects even when kb is small or zero.”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationBera, K., Dutta, P., & Sadhukhan, S. (2021) · Plant Cell Reports · doi:10.1007/s00299-021-02798-y · Cited by 68
Adalder, A., Mitra, K., Barman, N., Thapa, R., Bhowmick, S., & Ghorai, U. K. (2024) · Advanced Energy Materials · doi:10.1002/aenm.202403295 · Cited by 68
Barbic, M. (2019) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.45807 · Cited by 67
“Interaction of biological systems with magnetic fields has puzzled and fascinated the scientific community for a long time (Kirschvink and Gould, 1981; Kirschvink et al., 2001; Walker et al., 2002; Bazylinski and Frankel, 2004; Johnsen and Lohmann, 2005; Johnsen and Lohmann, 2008; Hore and Mouritsen, 2016).”
BackgroundTowards the Idea of Molecular Brains
Timsit, Y., & Sergeant-Perthuis, G. (2021) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences · doi:10.3390/ijms222111868 · Cited by 77
Petrone, A., Williams‐Young, D. B., Sun, S., Stetina, T. F., & Li, X. (2018) · The European Physical Journal B · doi:10.1140/epjb/e2018-90170-1 · Cited by 68
Wu, H., Scholten, A., Einwich, A., Mouritsen, H., & Koch, K. (2020) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-020-64429-y · Cited by 66
Self-citationWang, K., Yang, Q., Zhang, H., Zhang, M., Jiang, H., Chen, Z., & Li, J. (2023) · Journal of Materials Chemistry A · doi:10.1039/d2ta09276j · Cited by 67
Stable organic radical qubits and their applications in quantum information science
Zhou, A.-M., Sun, Z., & Sun, L. (2024) · The Innovation · doi:10.1016/j.xinn.2024.100662 · Cited by 71
New Possibilities for Magnetic Control of Chemical and Biochemical Reactions
Buchachenko, A., & Lawler, R. G. (2017) · Accounts of Chemical Research · doi:10.1021/acs.accounts.6b00608 · Cited by 66
Radical pairs may play a role in xenon-induced general anesthesia
Smith, J., Haghighi, H. Z., Salahub, D. R., & Simon, C. (2021) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-021-85673-w · Cited by 71
How the Geomagnetic Field Influences Life on Earth – An Integrated Approach to Geomagnetobiology
Erdmann, W., Kmita, H., Kosicki, J. Z., & Kaczmarek, L. D. (2021) · Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres · doi:10.1007/s11084-021-09612-5 · Cited by 66
Essential elements of radical pair magnetosensitivity in Drosophila
Bradlaugh, A. A., Fedele, G., Munro, A. L., Hansen, C. N., Hares, J. M., Patel, S., Kyriacou, C. P., Jones, A. R., Rosato, E., & Baines, R. (2023) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-023-05735-z · Cited by 67
Genetic effects of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields
Lai, H. C. (2021) · Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine · doi:10.1080/15368378.2021.1881866 · Cited by 65
“…take a look at these publications: Barnes and Greenebaum (2015); Binhi and Prato (2017); Davila et al. (2005); Dodson et al. (2013); Hore (2019); Hore and Mouritsen (2016); Kirschvink et al. (2001); Landler and Keays (2018); Sheppard et al. (2017); Sherrard et al. (2018); and Sisakht et al. (2020).”
BackgroundLevitt, B. B., Lai, H. C., & Manville, A. M. (2021) · Reviews on Environmental Health · doi:10.1515/reveh-2021-0050 · Cited by 65
Spin relaxation of radicals in cryptochrome and its role in avian magnetoreception
Worster, S. B., Kattnig, D. R., & Hore, P. J. (2016) · The Journal of Chemical Physics · doi:10.1063/1.4958624 · Cited by 63
Self-citationFormicki, K., Korzelecka-Orkisz, A., & Tański, A. (2019) · Journal of Fish Biology · doi:10.1111/jfb.13998 · Cited by 63
Hammad, M., Albaqami, M., Pooam, M., Kernevez, E., Witczak, J., Ritz, T., Martino, C. F., & Ahmad, M. (2020) · Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences · doi:10.1039/c9pp00469f · Cited by 62
Moretti, J., & Rodger, J. (2022) · Current Research in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/j.crneur.2022.100033 · Cited by 60
Theoretical Concepts in Magnetobiology after 40 Years of Research
Binhi, V. N., & Rubin, A. B. (2022) · Cells · doi:10.3390/cells11020274 · Cited by 61
“, [23,24,45,46]) and orbital [22,47] magnetic moments.”
BackgroundLeberecht, B., Kobylkov, D., Karwinkel, T., Döge, S., Burnus, L., Wong, S. Y., Apte, S., Haase, K., Musielak, I., Chetverikova, R., et al. (2022) · Journal of Comparative Physiology A · doi:10.1007/s00359-021-01537-8 · Cited by 61
“Most evidence suggests that the sensory mechanism is based on a radical pair process (Schulten et al. 1978; Ritz et al. 2000; Hore and Mouritsen 2016; Xu et al. 2021), but the primary magnetic sensors have yet to be unequivocally identified.”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationMagnetic Fields Modulate Blue-Light-Dependent Regulation of Neuronal Firing by Cryptochrome
Giachello, C. N., Scrutton, N. S., Jones, A. R., & Baines, R. (2016) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.2140-16.2016 · Cited by 58
“An MF effect because of the RPM is therefore predicted and this experimental approach mitigates many of the problems and confounding variables associated with weak MFs generated by electromagnets under laboratory conditions (for a full discussion, see Marley et al., 2014).”
BackgroundInfluentialMagnetocarcinogenesis: is there a mechanism for carcinogenic effects of weak magnetic fields?
Juutilainen, J., Herrala, M., Luukkonen, J., Naarala, J., & Hore, P. J. (2018) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.0590 · Cited by 62
“64 Although the detection mechanisms are still to be fully determined, magnetically sensitive reactions 65 of radical pairs in cryptochromes (CRY) seem to be involved, at least in birds [9].”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationKerpal, C., Richert, S., Storey, J. G., Pillai, S., Liddell, P. A., Gust, D., Mackenzie, S. R., Hore, P. J., & Timmel, C. R. (2019) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-019-11655-2 · Cited by 60
Self-citationAlbert, L., Deschamps, F., Jolivet, A., Olivier, F., Laurent Chauvaud, A., & Chauvaud, S. (2020) · Marine Environmental Research · doi:10.1016/j.marenvres.2020.104958 · Cited by 59
Spin-chemistry concepts for spintronics scientists
Ivanov, K. L., Wagenpfahl, A., Deibel, C., & Matysik, J. (2017) · Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology · doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.143 · Cited by 58
A physical mechanism of magnetoreception: Extension and analysis
Binhi, V. N., & Prato, F. S. (2016) · Bioelectromagnetics · doi:10.1002/bem.22011 · Cited by 57
“Such small nonselective effects could be considered as an intrinsic component of the radical-pair mechanism that is widely discussed in magnetobiology [e.g., Barnes and Greenebaum, 2015; Hore and Mouritsen, 2016].”
Babcock, N. S., & Kattnig, D. R. (2020) · The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters · doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c00370 · Cited by 59
Geomagnetic field impacts on cryptochrome and phytochrome signaling
Agliassa, C., Narayana, R., Christie, J. M., & Maffei, M. E. (2018) · Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B Biology · doi:10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2018.05.027 · Cited by 55
“4 radical pair mechanism forming the basis of Arabidopsis cryptochrome 1 and 2 (cry1 and cry2) blue 65 light-activation appears to be affected by the external MF [8-10].”
BackgroundRotations of macromolecules affect nonspecific biological responses to magnetic fields
Binhi, V. N., & Prato, F. S. (2018) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-018-31847-y · Cited by 56
Luo, J., & Hore, P. J. (2021) · New Journal of Physics · doi:10.1088/1367-2630/abed0b · Cited by 60
Self-citationMüller, P., Ignatz, E., Kiontke, S., Brettel, K., & Essen, L. (2017) · Chemical Science · doi:10.1039/c7sc03969g · Cited by 53
No evidence for magnetic field effects on the behaviour of Drosophila
Bassetto, M., Reichl, T., Kobylkov, D., Kattnig, D. R., Michael Winklhofer, A., Hore, P. J., & Mouritsen, H. (2023) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06397-7 · Cited by 53
Self-citationMagnetic map navigation in a migratory songbird requires trigeminal input
Pakhomov, A. Y., Анашина, А., Heyers, D., Kobylkov, D., Mouritsen, H., & Chernetsov, N. (2018) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-018-30477-8 · Cited by 52
Self-citationDan, H., Kong, Y., Yue, Q., Liu, J., Xu, X., Kong, W., Gao, Y., & Gao, B. (2020) · Chemical Engineering Journal · doi:10.1016/j.cej.2020.127634 · Cited by 51
Biological effects related to geomagnetic activity and possible mechanisms
Крылов, В. В. (2017) · Bioelectromagnetics · doi:10.1002/bem.22062 · Cited by 50
“However, they suggest the protein coded by the CG8198 gene may be an element of the protein–protein interactions that might allow the transduction of magnetic information from cryptochromes to higher hierarchical levels [Hore and Mouritsen, 2016].”
BackgroundTracking the Electron Transfer Cascade in European Robin Cryptochrome 4 Mutants
Timmer, D., Frederiksen, A., Lünemann, D. C., Thomas, A. R., Xu, J., Bartölke, R., Schmidt, J., Kubař, T., Sio, A. D., Solov’yov, I. A., et al. (2023) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/jacs.3c00442 · Cited by 49
Self-citationZebra finches have a light-dependent magnetic compass similar to migratory birds
Pinzon-Rodriguez, A., & Muheim, R. (2017) · Journal of Experimental Biology · doi:10.1242/jeb.148098 · Cited by 49
“…compass information by a light-dependent radical-pair process taking place in cryptochromes in the avian retina (Schulten et al., 1978; Ritz et al., 2000; reviewed by Rodgers and Hore, 2009; Wiltschko et al., 2010; Solov’yov et al., 2010; Mouritsen and Hore, 2012; Hore and Mouritsen, 2016).”
BackgroundCondensed Matter Systems Exposed to Radiation: Multiscale Theory, Simulations, and Experiment
Solov’yov, A. V., Verkhovtsev, A. V., Mason, N. J., Amos, R. A., Bald, I., Baldacchino, G., Dromey, B., Falk, M., Fedor, J., Gerhards, L., et al. (2024) · Chemical Reviews · doi:10.1021/acs.chemrev.3c00902 · Cited by 52
A light-dependent magnetoreception mechanism insensitive to light intensity and polarization
Worster, S. B., Mouritsen, H., & Hore, P. J. (2017) · Journal of The Royal Society Interface · doi:10.1098/rsif.2017.0405 · Cited by 46
Self-citationBerntsson, O., Rodriguez, R., Henry, L., Panman, M. R., Hughes, A. J., Einholz, C., Weber, S., Ihalainen, J. A., Henning, R. W., Kosheleva, I., et al. (2019) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaw1531 · Cited by 46
Bolte, P., Einwich, A., Seth, P. K., Chetverikova, R., Heyers, D., Wojahn, I., Janssen‐Bienhold, U., Feederle, R., Hore, P. J., Dedek, K., et al. (2021) · Ethology Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1080/03949370.2020.1870571 · Cited by 48
“This so-called radical pair theory suggests that photon absorption in specialised magnetoreceptor molecules leads to electron transfer reactions and the subsequent formation of a long-lived radical pair (Schulten et al. 1978; Ritz et al. 2000; Maeda et al. 2008; Hore & Mouritsen 2016).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationDouble Cones and the Diverse Connectivity of Photoreceptors and Bipolar Cells in an Avian Retina
Günther, A., Dedek, K., Haverkamp, S., Irsen, S. H., Briggman, K. L., & Mouritsen, H. (2021) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.2495-20.2021 · Cited by 48
“…species including the chicken express cryptochrome 4 (Günther et al., 2018), which could be the primary magnetic sensory molecule as it binds the crucial FAD (flavin adenine dinucleotide) cofactor (Hore and Mouritsen, 2016; Zoltowski et al., 2019), and is magnetically sensitive (Xu et al., 2021).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationHow quantum is radical pair magnetoreception?
Fay, T. P., Lindoy, L. P., Manolopoulos, D. E., & Hore, P. J. (2020) · Faraday Discussions · doi:10.1039/c9fd00049f · Cited by 47
Self-citationSharpe, M. A., Baskin, D. S., Pichumani, K., Ijare, O. B., & Helekar, S. A. (2021) · Frontiers in Oncology · doi:10.3389/fonc.2021.768758 · Cited by 51
“org 12 not powerful enough to exert thermodynamic control on biological processes but are instead determined by electron spin selection rules (14).”
BackgroundSaletnik, B. A., Saletnik, A., Słysz, E., Zaguła, G., Bajcar, M., Puchalska-Sarna, A., & Puchalski, C. (2022) · Molecules · doi:10.3390/molecules27185823 · Cited by 48
“Hore and Mouritsen (2016) [83] explained the biological photoreceptor as a magnetoreceptor function based on the radical-pair hypothesis.”
BackgroundLeberecht, B., Wong, S. Y., Satish, B., Döge, S., Hindman, J., Venkatraman, L., Apte, S., Haase, K., Musielak, I., Dautaj, G., et al. (2023) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2301153120 · Cited by 47
“While such weak, rapidly fluctuating magnetic fields should not affect a magnetite- based sensor (10, 25), their disruptive effect could be consistent with a radical pair mechanism (11, 26).”
BackgroundSelf-citationKobylkov, D., Wynn, J., Michael Winklhofer, A., Chetverikova, R., Xu, J., Hiscock, H. G., Hore, P. J., & Mouritsen, H. (2019) · Journal of The Royal Society Interface · doi:10.1098/rsif.2019.0716 · Cited by 47
“According to this model, photoexcitation of receptor molecules in the birds’ retinas can trigger an electron transfer pathway that results in the formation of radical pairs [13].”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationMagneto-plasticity in micro-cutting of single-crystal copper
Guo, Y., Lee, Y. J., Zhang, Y., & Wang, H. (2022) · Journal of Material Science and Technology · doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2022.03.003 · Cited by 46
Cryptochromes: Photochemical and structural insight into magnetoreception
Karki, N., Vergish, S., & Zoltowski, B. D. (2021) · Protein Science · doi:10.1002/pro.4124 · Cited by 49
“The M1 mechanism is supported by quantum mechanical calculations that confirmed M1 demonstrates characteristics consistent with the RP-hypothesis.(4,48) Further, in vitro ultrafast spectroscopy confirmed that millitesla magnetic fields alter the photochemical yield of FAD• .”
ResultMitra, K., Adalder, A., Mandal, S., & Ghorai, U. K. (2024) · Small Methods · doi:10.1002/smtd.202301132 · Cited by 46
Myklatun, A., Lauri, A., Eder, S. H. K., Cappetta, M., Shcherbakov, D., Wurst, W., Michael Winklhofer, A., & Westmeyer, G. G. (2018) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03090-6 · Cited by 44
Metadata
- Authors
- Hore, P. J., & Mouritsen, H.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Mouritsen, Henrik
- Venue
- Annual Review of Biophysics
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Published
- 2016-07-05
- Volume
- 45
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 299-344
- ISSN
- 1936-122X (ISSN-L)
- 1936-1238
- OpenAlex
- W2342982958
- Cited by
- 813
- References
- 222
- Citations by year
- 2026: 119 · 2025: 96 · 2024: 83 · 2023: 89 · 2022: 80 · 2021: 100 · 2020: 72 · 2019: 64 · 2018: 55 · 2017: 39 · 2016: 13
- FWCI
- 6.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Annual Review of Biophysics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- EMF Biological Research Trust
- European Commission (FP7/2007–2013/ERC, 2007–2013, FP7 2007-2013, FP7/2007)
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (GRK1885, FP7/2007–2013)
- Volkswagen Foundation
- U.S. Air Force (FA9550)
- Advanced Research Projects Agency
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/L011972/1)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biophysics › Electromagnetic Fields and Biological Effects
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Spectroscopy › Electron Spin Resonance Studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies
- Keywords
- magnetoreception, radical pairs, cryptochrome, bird migration, magnetic field sensing, photoexcitation, radical pair mechanism, sensory biology
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Birds, Free Radicals, Retina, Space Perception, Animal Migration, Cryptochromes, Magnetic Fields
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
