MagneticMoth
Financiado
Hunting for the elusive sixth sense navigation and magnetic sensation in a no...
Hunting for the elusive sixth sense navigation and magnetic sensation in a nocturnal migratory moth
Many animals – including birds, sea turtles and insects – perform spectacular long-distance migrations across the surface of the Earth. Remarkably some, like birds, can accurately migrate between highly specific locations thousand...
Many animals – including birds, sea turtles and insects – perform spectacular long-distance migrations across the surface of the Earth. Remarkably some, like birds, can accurately migrate between highly specific locations thousands of kilometres apart, a navigational feat that requires an external compass cue and a robust sensory system to detect it. The Earth’s magnetic field is one such compass cue. But exactly how the magnetic field is sensed, and which receptor cells are involved, remains a mystery and its discovery is one of the greatest holy grails in modern sensory physiology, and also the main aim of this proposal. Fortuitously, I have made a pioneering discovery that a migratory insect – the Australian Bogong moth – relies on the Earth’s magnetic field to navigate at night. Due to its tractable nervous system, this insect may thus hold the key to uncovering the identity of the enigmatic magnetosensor. By tethering flying migrating moths in a flight simulator, I will dissect for the first time how insects use magnetic cues to navigate, isolating which of the two current (contentious) hypotheses for magnetic sensation apply. The most likely of these involves the action of photoreceptor-based cryptochrome (Cry) molecules in the eyes. Having cloned genes for 4 visual opsins and 2 Cry in Bogong moths, I will use in situ hybridisation to localise putative magnetoreceptors in the eyes, targeting them with intracellular electrophysiology and magnetic stimulation in an attempt to describe the physiology of these elusive sensors for the first time. The project is ground breaking since it will elucidate how a migratory insect, despite its small eyes and brain, detects and uses the Earth’s magnetic field for navigation. The discovery of the enigmatic magnetoreceptor would be a sensation, opening the floodgates for international research on this little understood sense.
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Duración del proyecto: 76 meses
Fecha Inicio: 2017-04-26
Fecha Fin: 2023-08-31
Fecha Fin: 2023-08-31
Línea de financiación: concedida
El organismo H2020 notifico la concesión del proyecto el día 2023-08-31
Línea de financiación objetivo
El proyecto se financió a través de la siguiente ayuda:
ERC-2016-ADG:
ERC Advanced Grant
Cerrada
hace 8 años
Presupuesto
El presupuesto total del proyecto asciende a
2M€
Líder del proyecto
LUNDS UNIVERSITET
No se ha especificado una descripción o un objeto social para esta compañía.
Perfil tecnológico
TRL
4-5
Perfil tecnológico
TRL
4-5
242.21K€ |
Participante