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Physiology

Mutant flies lack magnetic sense

Nature volume 454, pages 950–951 (2008)Cite this article

It seems that fruitflies can detect magnetic fields, but only if they are illuminated with blue light. Mutant flies reveal that a light-responsive receptor underpins this peculiar behaviour.

Animals detect various wavelengths of light, from ultraviolet to red, using photoreceptor proteins. One reason for doing this is to synchronize their circadian clocks with the day–night cycle. In the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster, a vital photoreceptor for this synchronization is cryptochrome, which uses blue light to reset circadian clocks1. Reporting on page 1014 of this issue, Gegear et al.2 reveal a new function of this intriguing molecule. They show that both cryptochrome and blue light are required for fruitflies to sense magnetic fields.

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Figure 1: Magnetoreception in fruitflies.

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  1. François Rouyer is at the Institut de Neurobiologie Alfred Fessard, CNRS UPR2216, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France. francois.rouyer@inaf.cnrs-gif.fr ,

    François Rouyer

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  1. François Rouyer
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Rouyer, F. Mutant flies lack magnetic sense. Nature 454, 950–951 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/454949a

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