Cryptochrome 2 mediates directional magnetoreception in cockroaches

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Authors

BAZALOVÁ Olga KVÍČALOVÁ Markéta VÁLKOVÁ Tereza SLABÝ Pavel BARTOŠ Přemysl NETUŠIL Radek TOMANOVÁ Kateřina BRAEUNIG Peter LEE How-Jing ŠAUMAN Ivo DAMULEWICZ Milena PROVAZNIK Jan POKORNY Richard DOLEZEL David VÁCHA Martin

Year of publication 2016
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1518622113
Field Physiology
Keywords magnetoreception; cryptochrome; light spectrum; locomotor activity; circadian genes
Description The ability to perceive geomagnetic fields (GMFs) represents a fascinating biological phenomenon. Studies on transgenic flies have provided evidence that photosensitive Cryptochromes (Cry) are involved in the response to magnetic fields (MFs). However, none of the studies tackled the problem of whether the Cry-dependent magnetosensitivity is coupled to the sole MF presence or to the direction of MF vector. In this study, we used gene silencing and a directional MF to show that mammalian-like Cry2 is necessary for a genuine directional response to periodic rotations of the GMF vector in two insect species. Longer wavelengths of light required higher photon fluxes for a detectable behavioral response, and a sharp detection border was present in the cyan/green spectral region. Both observations are consistent with involvement of the FADox, FAD(.-) and FADH(-) redox forms of flavin. The response was lost upon covering the eyes, demonstrating that the signal is perceived in the eye region. Immunohistochemical staining detected Cry2 in the hemispherical layer of laminal glia cells underneath the retina. Together, these findings identified the eye-localized Cry2 as an indispensable component and a likely photoreceptor of the directional GMF response. Our study is thus a clear step forward in deciphering the in vivo effects of GMF and supports the interaction of underlying mechanism with the visual system.
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