title: Exploring the possibilities for radical pair effects in cryptochrome.
abstract: The ability of some animals to sense magnetic fields has long captured the human imagination. In our recent paper, we explored how radical pair effects in the protein cryptochrome may underlie the magnetic orientation sense of migratory birds. Here we explain our model and discuss its relationship to experimental results on plant cryptochromes, as well as discuss the next steps in refining our model, and explore alternate but related possibilities for modeling and understanding cryptochrome as a magnetic sensor.
authors.affiliation: Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies; Johann Wolfgang Goethe University; Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Ilia A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Solov'yov
authors.forename: Danielle E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Chandler
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schulten
references.citation: Curr Biol. 2005 Aug 23;15(16):1518-23
references.pmid: 16111946
references.citation: J Comp Neurol. 2003 Apr 14;458(4):350-60
references.pmid: 12619070
references.citation: Planta. 2007 Feb;225(3):615-24
references.pmid: 16955271
references.citation: Naturwissenschaften. 2007 Aug;94(8):631-42
references.pmid: 17361399
references.citation: Biophys J. 2007 Apr 15;92(8):2711-26
references.pmid: 17259272
references.citation: Nature. 2004 May 13;429(6988):177-80
references.pmid: 15141211
references.citation: HFSP J. 2007 May;1(1):41-8
references.pmid: 19404459
references.citation: Biophys J. 2007 Sep 1;93(5):1493-509
references.pmid: 17496012
references.citation: Biophys J. 2000 Feb;78(2):707-18
references.pmid: 10653784
references.citation: Naturwissenschaften. 2005 Feb;92(2):86-90
references.pmid: 15614508