Understanding function and evolution of cryptochrome 4 through strategic mutations in purified proteins. (Sig06*)

• Subject Area: Biochemistry
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 395940726

To achieve a comprehensive understanding of magnetoreception and vertebrate navigation, it is essential to understand the functional and evolutionary history of cryptochrome magnetic sensitivity. Using the protein production pipeline and mutational strategies set up during the first funding period, this project will produce a variety of cryptochrome mutants from several different bird species. The magnetic sensitivity of these mutated proteins will be measured spectroscopically by our Mercator Fellows and collaborators in Oxford. Based on the insight from new protein mutants, spectroscopic measurements, theoretical predictions, and phylogenetic analyses, we will investigate why some cryptochromes are more magnetically sensitive than others.

• 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 Dr. Henrik Mouritsen