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Driven Radical Motion Enhances Cryptochrome Magnetoreception: Toward Live Quantum Sensing.

Luke D Smith¹, Farhan T Chowdhury¹, Iona Peasgood¹

¹Living Systems Institute and Department of Physics University of Exeter, Stocker Road, Exeter EX4 4QD, United Kingdom.

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

|November 4, 2022

Summary

This study reveals how modulating radical pair distance enhances magnetoreception sensitivity. Dynamically driven radical pairs show increased geomagnetic field sensitivity, suggesting a "live" receptor is superior to a static one.

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Area of Science:

Quantum biology
Biophysics
Chemical senses

Background:

Magnetoreception, the sense of direction, remains mechanistically elusive.
A leading hypothesis involves cryptochrome proteins and radical pair quantum spin dynamics.
Strong inter-radical interactions, like dipolar coupling, pose a challenge to this hypothesis's sensitivity.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if dynamic modulation can overcome sensitivity limitations in radical pair magnetoreception.
To explore the role of inter-radical distance modulation in enhancing geomagnetic sensitivity.
To theoretically assess the sensitivity of a dynamically driven magnetoreceptor.

Main Methods:

Theoretical modeling of quantum spin dynamics in radical pairs.
Analysis of Landau-Zener-Stückelberg-Majorana transitions.
Simulations incorporating modulated inter-radical distances.

Main Results:

Modulating inter-radical distance can restore and enhance magnetoreceptor sensitivity.
Dynamical processes significantly boost geomagnetic sensitivity in strongly coupled radical pairs.
Harmonically driven radical pair systems exhibit superior sensitivity compared to static systems.

Conclusions:

The proposed mechanism of dynamically modulated inter-radical distance provides a viable pathway for sensitive magnetoreception.
This work suggests that biological magnetoreceptors may utilize dynamic processes to achieve high sensitivity.
A "live" or dynamically modulated magnetoreceptor is theoretically more sensitive than a static one.