Champaign, Ill. -- A blue-light photoreceptor found in nerve
layers of the eyes and brains has caught the attention of
University of Illinois researchers who are seeking the magnetic
compass that lets migratory birds and many other creatures find
home using the magnetic field of Earth. The receptor --
cryptochrome -- is known to play a prominent role regulating an
animal's day-and-night rhythm. Now, UI scientists report in the
February issue of the Biophysical Journal that chemical
experiments and computational modeling indicate that
cryptochrome may be the site of a neurochemical reaction that
lets birds, for example, process visual clues from the magnetic
field and stay on course. "Animals as diverse as migratory
birds, salamanders, salmon, or hamsters use the geomagnetic
field for orientation," said Klaus Schulten, holder of the UI
Swanlund Chair in Physics and professor at the Beckman Institute
for Advanced Science and Technology. "We know how such a compass
works in bacteria, and we know that the magneti