Cryptochrome could help blackcaps find way

摘要

Setting off on their 9500 km migration south from their summer home in Latvia, blackcaps set a bearing toward their wintering grounds in Kenya that guides them on their way. Augusto Foà and collaborators from the University of Ferrara, Italy, explain that the tiny aviators are probably able to detect the earth's magnetic field, and use it to set their bearing as they head south. Some migratory species sense magnetic fields using a chemical interaction between cryptochrome proteins in the eye and blue light, which they use as a compass during migration. Could migrating birds increase cryptochrome levels in their eyes in preparation for migration in order to guide them on their way (p. 918)?