Cryptochrome-based magnetoreception (Sig05)

• Subject Area: Biophysics
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 395940726

To achieve a comprehensive understanding of magnetoreception and vertebrate navigation, it is important to reveal the fundamental processes that make magnetic sensing robust. We will use molecular dynamics and spin dynamics simulations to elucidate the fundamental physical and chemical requirements for cryptochrome-based magnetoreception and to make predictions for critical experimental tests of the hypothesis in migratory animals. Project 1 will study the molecular origins of the interactions of cryptochrome with its key interaction partners. Project 2 will use computer simulations to guide and interpret the results of experimental studies of the magnetic sensitivity of cryptochromes in vivo and ex vivo and to understand more completely the operation of a radical pair magnetoreceptor.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1372: Magnetoreception and navigation in vertebrates: from biophysics to brain and behaviour
• Applicant Institution: Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
• Project Head: Professor Ilia Solovyov, Ph.D.