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A novel isoform of cryptochrome 4 (Cry4b) is expressed in the retina of a night-migratory songbird

The primary sensory molecule underlying light-dependent magnetic compass orientation in migratory birds has still not been identified. The cryptochromes are the only known class of vertebrate proteins which could mediate this mechanism in the avian retina. Cryptochrome 4 of the night-migratory songb...

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Autores principales: Einwich, Angelika, Dedek, Karin, Seth, Pranav Kumar, Laubinger, Sascha, Mouritsen, Henrik
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7519125/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32978454
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-72579-2
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author Einwich, Angelika
Dedek, Karin
Seth, Pranav Kumar
Laubinger, Sascha
Mouritsen, Henrik
author_facet Einwich, Angelika
Dedek, Karin
Seth, Pranav Kumar
Laubinger, Sascha
Mouritsen, Henrik
author_sort Einwich, Angelika
collection PubMed
description The primary sensory molecule underlying light-dependent magnetic compass orientation in migratory birds has still not been identified. The cryptochromes are the only known class of vertebrate proteins which could mediate this mechanism in the avian retina. Cryptochrome 4 of the night-migratory songbird the European robin (Erithacus rubecula; erCry4) has several of the properties needed to be the primary magnetoreceptor in the avian eye. Here, we report on the identification of a novel isoform of erCry4, which we named erCry4b. Cry4b includes an additional exon of 29 amino acids compared to the previously described form of Cry4, now called Cry4a. When comparing the retinal circadian mRNA expression pattern of the already known isoform erCry4a and the novel erCry4b isoform, we find that erCry4a is stably expressed throughout day and night, whereas erCry4b shows a diurnal mRNA oscillation. The differential characteristics of the two erCry4 isoforms regarding their 24-h rhythmicity in mRNA expression leads us to suggest that they might have different functions. Based on the 24-h expression pattern, erCry4a remains the more likely cryptochrome to be involved in radical-pair-based magnetoreception, but at the present time, an involvement of erCry4b cannot be excluded.
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spelling pubmed-75191252020-09-29 A novel isoform of cryptochrome 4 (Cry4b) is expressed in the retina of a night-migratory songbird Einwich, Angelika Dedek, Karin Seth, Pranav Kumar Laubinger, Sascha Mouritsen, Henrik Sci Rep Article The primary sensory molecule underlying light-dependent magnetic compass orientation in migratory birds has still not been identified. The cryptochromes are the only known class of vertebrate proteins which could mediate this mechanism in the avian retina. Cryptochrome 4 of the night-migratory songbird the European robin (Erithacus rubecula; erCry4) has several of the properties needed to be the primary magnetoreceptor in the avian eye. Here, we report on the identification of a novel isoform of erCry4, which we named erCry4b. Cry4b includes an additional exon of 29 amino acids compared to the previously described form of Cry4, now called Cry4a. When comparing the retinal circadian mRNA expression pattern of the already known isoform erCry4a and the novel erCry4b isoform, we find that erCry4a is stably expressed throughout day and night, whereas erCry4b shows a diurnal mRNA oscillation. The differential characteristics of the two erCry4 isoforms regarding their 24-h rhythmicity in mRNA expression leads us to suggest that they might have different functions. Based on the 24-h expression pattern, erCry4a remains the more likely cryptochrome to be involved in radical-pair-based magnetoreception, but at the present time, an involvement of erCry4b cannot be excluded. Nature Publishing Group UK 2020-09-25 /pmc/articles/PMC7519125/ /pubmed/32978454 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-72579-2 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Einwich, Angelika
Dedek, Karin
Seth, Pranav Kumar
Laubinger, Sascha
Mouritsen, Henrik
A novel isoform of cryptochrome 4 (Cry4b) is expressed in the retina of a night-migratory songbird
title A novel isoform of cryptochrome 4 (Cry4b) is expressed in the retina of a night-migratory songbird
title_full A novel isoform of cryptochrome 4 (Cry4b) is expressed in the retina of a night-migratory songbird
title_fullStr A novel isoform of cryptochrome 4 (Cry4b) is expressed in the retina of a night-migratory songbird
title_full_unstemmed A novel isoform of cryptochrome 4 (Cry4b) is expressed in the retina of a night-migratory songbird
title_short A novel isoform of cryptochrome 4 (Cry4b) is expressed in the retina of a night-migratory songbird
title_sort novel isoform of cryptochrome 4 (cry4b) is expressed in the retina of a night-migratory songbird
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7519125/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32978454
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-72579-2
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