Science news here tends to be dominated by two universities. And genetic research usually brings us fruit files and zebra fish. So, we’re always happy to report from the South End, Chinatown and, in this case, Worcester. Especially if the research involves monarch butterflies.
Findings out of UMass Medical Center suggest that humans might have the same kind of genetically-driven internal compass that guides other animals.
The New York Times reports:
A researcher studying how monarch butterflies navigate has picked up a strong hint that people may be able to sense the earth’s magnetic field and use it for orienting themselves.
Many animals rely on the magnetic field for navigation, and researchers have often wondered if people, too, might be able to detect the field; that might explain how Polynesian navigators can make 3,000-mile journeys under starless skies. But after years of inconclusive experiments, interest in people’s possible magnetic sense has waned.
That may change after an experiment being reported Tuesday by Steven M. Reppert, a neurobiologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and his colleagues Lauren E. Foley and Robert J. Gegear. They have been studying cryptochromes, light-sensitive proteins that help regulate the daily rhythm of the body’s cells, and how they help set the sun compass by which monarchs navigate.
Here’s a link to Dr. Reppert’s lab:
Since 2002, the Reppert laboratory has used anatomical, cellular, molecular, electrophysiological, genetic and behavioral approaches to more fully understand the biological basis of monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) migration, with a focus on the butterfly’s navigational abilities and its distinctive circadian clock.
Here’s the abstract:
Humans are not believed to have a magnetic sense, even though many animals use the Earth’s magnetic field for orientation and navigation. One model of magnetosensing in animals proposes that geomagnetic fields are perceived by light-sensitive chemical reactions involving the flavoprotein cryptochrome (CRY). Here we show using a transgenic approach that human CRY2, which is heavily expressed in the retina, can function as a magnetosensor in the magnetoreception system of Drosophila and that it does so in a light-dependent manner. The results show that human CRY2 has the molecular capability to function as a light-sensitive magnetosensor and reopen an area of sensory biology that is ready for further exploration in humans.
Photos:UMass Med, Florida Dept. of Tourism