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Protein complexes

A candidate magnetoreceptor

Nature Materials volume 15, pages 136–138 (2016)Cite this article

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A protein complex found to align with the direction of a magnetic field could be a key piece in the puzzle of how animals detect magnetic fields.

The idea that animals detect magnetic fields, once dismissed by physicists as nonsensical, has gradually gained full scientific acceptance. From molluscs and insects to sea turtles and birds, many animals use the Earth's magnetic field to guide their movements over spatial scales from a few metres to entire ocean basins1,2. Yet how animals detect magnetism has remained a mystery for more than half a century. Despite numerous searches, receptors that detect magnetic fields have not been identified with certainty in any animal. Now, Can Xie and colleagues report in Nature Materials a newly discovered protein complex that orients itself in the direction of a magnetic field3. The researchers postulate that the complex might function as a nanoscale biocompass and underpin animal magnetoreception.

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Figure 1: Schematics of the two main proposed mechanisms for animal magnetoreception.
Figure 2: Schematic (left) and structural model (right) of the putative magnetosensor3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kenneth J. Lohmann is in the Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA,

    Kenneth J. Lohmann

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  1. Kenneth J. Lohmann
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Correspondence to Kenneth J. Lohmann.

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Lohmann, K. A candidate magnetoreceptor. Nature Mater 15, 136–138 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4550

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