Cryptochrome could help blackcaps find wayстатья из журнала
Аннотация: Setting off on their 9500 km migration south from their summer home in Latvia, blackcaps set a bearing toward their wintering grounds in Kenya that guides them on their way. Augusto Foà and collaborators from the University of Ferrara, Italy, explain that the tiny aviators are probably able to detect the earth's magnetic field, and use it to set their bearing as they head south. Some migratory species sense magnetic fields using a chemical interaction between cryptochrome proteins in the eye and blue light, which they use as a compass during migration. Could migrating birds increase cryptochrome levels in their eyes in preparation for migration in order to guide them on their way (p. 918)?Leonida Fusani and Cristiano Bertolucci travelled to the birds' nesting site near the Pape Ornithological Station, Latvia – where the birds prepare for migration – in August 2011 and intercepted the voyagers just before they embarked on their ambitious journey. Having transported the animals back to the University of Ferrara, the team then waited for the birds to begin showing the tell-tale signs that they were ready to set off – they become more active by night, are more sedentary during the day and have gained weight. The team then allowed some of the birds to continue hopping around at night to simulate their migration. However, in another group they switched off the urge to migrate by recreating the return to normal behaviour that birds experience when they stop to refuel after two days of migration. The team did this by not feeding the birds for two days – to simulate the flight – and then resumed feeding the birds on the third day to induce the return to normal behaviour during the refuelling stop. The team then collected samples of the birds' eyes to look for evidence of cryptochrome production and compared them with samples from birds that were hopping around ready to embark on migration, birds that had completed their virtual migration for the year and were back to their normal daily routine, and birds that had just gone through a night of virtual migrationThey found that the birds that were experiencing the simulated migration at night had high levels of the mRNA that produces the crytochrome proteins. However, the birds that had returned to their normal behaviour patterns had much lower levels of the cryptochrome RNAs. So, blackcaps that are on the verge of migration and those that are experiencing migration have access to one of the key components for detecting magnetic fields that might guide them on their way. And although this is not conclusive evidence that the birds set their bearing using a magnetic compass, it is another piece of compelling evidence that they probably do.
Год издания: 2014
Авторы: Kathryn Knight
Издательство: The Company of Biologists
Источник: Journal of Experimental Biology
Ключевые слова: Electromagnetic Fields and Biological Effects, Spaceflight effects on biology, Molecular Communication and Nanonetworks
Открытый доступ: bronze
Том: 217
Выпуск: 6
Страницы: 817–817