There are billions of migratory birds migrating between continents every year. "How do migratory animals use the magnetic field to find their way home" has always been a difficult problem for scientists. Recently, the research team of magnetobiology of high intensity magnetic field science center of Hefei Institute of material sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xie can, together with Professor Peter hore of Oxford University in the UK and Professor Henrik mouritsen of Oldenburg University in Germany, has made important breakthroughs in the field of animal magnetic sensing and bio navigation, It reveals the quantum biological principle of migratory birds' perception of geomagnetic field. The related research results were published in the journal Nature on June 23.

In the course of billions of years of evolution, many organisms on the earth have developed the ability to use the weak geomagnetic field to achieve accurate orientation and navigation in different space and scales on the sea, land and air. The scientific principle is not clear yet. Therefore, "how migratory animals use the magnetic field to find their way home" has been listed as one of 125 unsolved important frontier scientific problems by science. On the other hand, the penetrability of magnetic field makes it possible for magnetic stimulation to penetrate into the interior of organisms, such as the deep brain, remotely and non destructively. Using magnetic field to control cells or organisms has incomparable advantages, which has also become a research hotspot in the recent decade. Therefore, it is not only of great significance in basic research to clarify the principle of animals' perception of the earth's magnetic field for migration and navigation, but also to reveal the control mechanism of magnetic field on cells or organisms. It is also the demand of biological magnetic control technology and a new generation of navigation and positioning technology independent of satellite. However, at present, the theory of this field has not been fully clarified, and the bottleneck of experiment has not been broken, which also makes the development of this field difficult.

An international cooperative research team composed of Xie can research group of high magnetic field science center and relevant laboratories of Oxford University and Oldenburg University in Germany has conducted in-depth research on cry, a key protein of magnetic induction in several birds by means of magnetic resonance spectroscopy. It is the first time to find that cry protein of migratory birds, such as European robins, is significantly more sensitive to magnetic field than that of non migratory birds, This sensitivity is mainly reflected in the change of the spin state of the entangled electron in the "free radical pair". The study also revealed that the magnetic induction mechanism of cry protein is due to its internal electronic behavior: after blue light excitation, fad in cry protein is reduced, and electrons jump between trpa, TRPB, TRPC and trpd in cry protein, which is highly sensitive to magnetic field. Quantum chemistry experiments and theoretical calculations show for the first time that this electron transfer process undertakes two different functions of "magnetic induction" and "signal transfer", and the fourth trpd is very important for signal transfer. To some extent, this study reveals the quantum biological principle of migratory birds' perception of geomagnetic field, points out the direction for the future research of animal magnetic induction and biological navigation, and provides theoretical guidance for the development of bionic navigation and biological magnetic control technology.

It is understood that this research is the first stage achievement of a long-term cooperative project initiated by researcher Xie can of high intensity magnetic field science center, Professor Peter hore of Oxford University in the UK and Professor Henrik mouritsen of Oldenburg University in Germany many years ago. Xie can laboratory has a unique protein expression and purification system and rich experience in magnetic induction proteins. In 2015, it first reported and prepared a large number of bioactive cry4 proteins with correct folding and FAD binding. In collaboration with Henrik mouritsen of Oldenburg University, Xie can's team successfully prepared the cry protein of European robins, a night migratory bird with biological activity, in the laboratory for the first time. Mass spectrometry analysis showed that the cofactor binding rate of the protein was as high as 97%, which laid a foundation for the success of the whole research.

Due to its important frontier research value and future strategic needs, magnetobiology has always been an important research direction of the high magnetic field science center and Anhui provincial laboratory. In the "advanced research project of key technologies of strong magnetooptics" of Hefei comprehensive national science center, a separate sub project has been set up for special research. It is reported that the research has also received strong support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the special fund for top talents of Hefei Institute of material sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the International Center for frontier research in magnetobiology.