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Magnetoreception in birds: I. Immunohistochemical studies concerning the cryptochrome cycle

Cryptochrome 1a, located in the UV/violet-sensitive cones in the avian retina, is discussed as receptor molecule for the magnetic compass of birds. Our previous immunohistochemical studies of chicken retinae with an antiserum that labelled only activated cryptochrome 1a had shown activation of crypt...

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Autores principales: Nießner, Christine, Denzau, Susanne, Peichl, Leo, Wiltschko, Wolfgang, Wiltschko, Roswitha
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Company of Biologists 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4254396/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25472972
http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.110965
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author Nießner, Christine
Denzau, Susanne
Peichl, Leo
Wiltschko, Wolfgang
Wiltschko, Roswitha
author_facet Nießner, Christine
Denzau, Susanne
Peichl, Leo
Wiltschko, Wolfgang
Wiltschko, Roswitha
author_sort Nießner, Christine
collection PubMed
description Cryptochrome 1a, located in the UV/violet-sensitive cones in the avian retina, is discussed as receptor molecule for the magnetic compass of birds. Our previous immunohistochemical studies of chicken retinae with an antiserum that labelled only activated cryptochrome 1a had shown activation of cryptochrome 1a under 373 nm UV, 424 nm blue, 502 nm turquoise and 565 nm green light. Green light, however, does not allow the first step of photoreduction of oxidized cryptochromes to the semiquinone. As the chickens had been kept under ‘white’ light before, we suggested that there was a supply of the semiquinone present at the beginning of the exposure to green light, which could be further reduced and then re-oxidized. To test this hypothesis, we exposed chickens to various wavelengths (1) for 30 min after being kept in daylight, (2) for 30 min after a 30 min pre-exposure to total darkness, and (3) for 1 h after being kept in daylight. In the first case, we found activated cryptochrome 1a under UV, blue, turquoise and green light; in the second two cases we found activated cryptochrome 1a only under UV to turquoise light, where the complete redox cycle of cryptochrome can run, but not under green light. This observation is in agreement with the hypothesis that activated cryptochrome 1a is found as long as there is some of the semiquinone left, but not when the supply is depleted. It supports the idea that the crucial radical pair for magnetoreception is generated during re-oxidation.
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spelling pubmed-42543962014-12-16 Magnetoreception in birds: I. Immunohistochemical studies concerning the cryptochrome cycle Nießner, Christine Denzau, Susanne Peichl, Leo Wiltschko, Wolfgang Wiltschko, Roswitha J Exp Biol Research Articles Cryptochrome 1a, located in the UV/violet-sensitive cones in the avian retina, is discussed as receptor molecule for the magnetic compass of birds. Our previous immunohistochemical studies of chicken retinae with an antiserum that labelled only activated cryptochrome 1a had shown activation of cryptochrome 1a under 373 nm UV, 424 nm blue, 502 nm turquoise and 565 nm green light. Green light, however, does not allow the first step of photoreduction of oxidized cryptochromes to the semiquinone. As the chickens had been kept under ‘white’ light before, we suggested that there was a supply of the semiquinone present at the beginning of the exposure to green light, which could be further reduced and then re-oxidized. To test this hypothesis, we exposed chickens to various wavelengths (1) for 30 min after being kept in daylight, (2) for 30 min after a 30 min pre-exposure to total darkness, and (3) for 1 h after being kept in daylight. In the first case, we found activated cryptochrome 1a under UV, blue, turquoise and green light; in the second two cases we found activated cryptochrome 1a only under UV to turquoise light, where the complete redox cycle of cryptochrome can run, but not under green light. This observation is in agreement with the hypothesis that activated cryptochrome 1a is found as long as there is some of the semiquinone left, but not when the supply is depleted. It supports the idea that the crucial radical pair for magnetoreception is generated during re-oxidation. Company of Biologists 2014-12-01 /pmc/articles/PMC4254396/ /pubmed/25472972 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.110965 Text en © 2014. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Nießner, Christine
Denzau, Susanne
Peichl, Leo
Wiltschko, Wolfgang
Wiltschko, Roswitha
Magnetoreception in birds: I. Immunohistochemical studies concerning the cryptochrome cycle
title Magnetoreception in birds: I. Immunohistochemical studies concerning the cryptochrome cycle
title_full Magnetoreception in birds: I. Immunohistochemical studies concerning the cryptochrome cycle
title_fullStr Magnetoreception in birds: I. Immunohistochemical studies concerning the cryptochrome cycle
title_full_unstemmed Magnetoreception in birds: I. Immunohistochemical studies concerning the cryptochrome cycle
title_short Magnetoreception in birds: I. Immunohistochemical studies concerning the cryptochrome cycle
title_sort magnetoreception in birds: i. immunohistochemical studies concerning the cryptochrome cycle
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4254396/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25472972
http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.110965
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