scholarly journals Effect of magnetic fields on cryptochrome-dependent responses in Arabidopsis thaliana

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (41) ◽  
pp. 1193-1205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue-Re Harris ◽  
Kevin B. Henbest ◽  
Kiminori Maeda ◽  
John R. Pannell ◽  
Christiane R. Timmel ◽  
...  

The scientific literature describing the effects of weak magnetic fields on living systems contains a plethora of contradictory reports, few successful independent replication studies and a dearth of plausible biophysical interaction mechanisms. Most such investigations have been unsystematic, devoid of testable theoretical predictions and, ultimately, unconvincing. A recent study, of magnetic responses in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana , however, stands out; it has a clear hypothesis—that seedling growth is magnetically sensitive as a result of photoinduced radical-pair reactions in cryptochrome photoreceptors—tested by measuring several cryptochrome-dependent responses, all of which proved to be enhanced in a magnetic field of intensity 500 μT. The potential importance of this study in the debate on putative effects of extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields on human health prompted us to subject it to the ‘gold standard’ of independent replication. With experimental conditions chosen to match those of the original study, we have measured hypocotyl lengths and anthocyanin accumulation for Arabidopsis seedlings grown in a 500 μT magnetic field, with simultaneous control experiments at 50 μT. Additionally, we have determined hypocotyl lengths of plants grown in 50 μT, 1 mT and approximately 100 mT magnetic fields (with zero-field controls), measured gene ( CHS , HY5 and GST ) expression levels, investigated blue-light intensity effects and explored the influence of sucrose in the growth medium. In no case were consistent, statistically significant magnetic field responses detected.

1974 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-278
Author(s):  
D. N. Srivastava

This paper analyses the dispersion relation for a collisionless moving electron plasma, when the direction of motion is normal to the magnetic field and that of the wave propagation along the magnetic field. It is shown that, in strong magnetic fields, the one continuous allowed band of the left-handed wave (of the stationary plasma) splits into two, and the right-handed wave shows a second resonance besides the cyclotron resonance. In weak magnetic fields, the lefthanded wave develops a backward wave band, which shows resonance at its low frequency edge, and the right-handed wave also develops an extra band of propagation. The effect of the motion of the plasma, on waves of frequency much lower than the plasma frequency, is identical to a doppler shift, but, on those of frequency much higher than that, is negligible.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Guccini ◽  
Sugam Kumar ◽  
Yulia Trushkina ◽  
Gergely Nagy ◽  
Christina Schütz ◽  
...  

The magnetic alignment of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and lepidocrocite nanorods (LpN), pristine and in hybrid suspensions has been investigated using contrast-matched small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) under in situ magnetic fields (0 – 6.8 T) and polarized optical microscopy. The pristine CNC (diamagnetic) and pristine LpN (paramagnetic) align perpendicular and parallel to the direction of field, respectively. The alignment of both the nanoparticles in their hybrid suspensions depends on the relative amount of the two components (CNC and LpN) and strength of the applied magnetic field. In the presence of 10 wt% LpN and fields < 1.0 T, the CNC align parallel to the field. In the hybrid containing lower amount of LpN (1 wt%), the ordering of CNC is partially frustrated in all range of magnetic field. At the same time, the LpN shows both perpendicular and parallel orientation, in the presence of CNC. This study highlights that the natural perpendicular ordering of CNC can be switched to parallel by weak magnetic fields and the incorporation of paramagnetic nanoparticle as LpN, as well it gives a method to influence the orientation of LpN.<br>


RSC Advances ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (28) ◽  
pp. 17051-17057
Author(s):  
Anna Eichler-Volf ◽  
Yara Alsaadawi ◽  
Fernando Vazquez Luna ◽  
Qaiser Ali Khan ◽  
Simon Stierle ◽  
...  

PS/CoPd Janus particles respond very sensitively to application of low external magnetic fields. Owing to the magnetic properties, the PS/CoPd particles may be used, for example, to sense the presence of weak magnetic fields as micro-magnetometers.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takuro Toda ◽  
Mikako Ito ◽  
Jun-ichi Takeda ◽  
Alkio Masuda ◽  
Nobutaka Hattori ◽  
...  

Abstract Humans are frequently exposed to time-varying and static weak magnetic fields (WMF). However, the effects of faint magnetic fields, weaker than the geomagnetic field, have not been reported. We found that extremely low-frequency (ELF)-WMF, comprised of serial pulses of 10 µT intensity at 1–8 Hz, which was three or more times weaker than the geomagnetic field, reduced mitochondrial mass to 70% and the mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) complex II activity to 88%. Chemical inhibition of electron flux through the mitochondrial ETC complex II nullified the effect of ELF-WMF. Suppression of ETC complex II subsequently induced mitophagy by translocating parkin and PINK1 to the mitochondria and by recruiting LC3-II. Thereafter, mitophagy induced PGC-1α-mediated mitochondrial biogenesis to rejuvenate mitochondria. The lack of PINK1 negated the effect of ELF-WMF. Thus, ELF-WMF may be applicable for the treatment of human diseases that exhibit compromised mitochondrial homeostasis, such as Parkinson’s disease.


Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zdeněk Stuchlík ◽  
Martin Kološ ◽  
Arman Tursunov

Properties of charged particle motion in the field of magnetized black holes (BHs) imply four possible regimes of behavior of ionized Keplerian disks: survival in regular epicyclic motion, transformation into chaotic toroidal state, destruction due to fall into the BHs, destruction due to escape along magnetic field lines (escape to infinity for disks orbiting Kerr BHs). The regime of the epicyclic motion influenced by very weak magnetic fields can be related to the observed high-frequency quasiperiodic oscillations. In the case of very strong magnetic fields particles escaping to infinity could form UHECR due to extremely efficient magnetic Penrose process – protons with energy E > 10 21 eV can be accelerated by supermassive black holes with M ∼ 10 10 M ⊙ immersed in magnetic field with B ∼ 10 4 Gs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (A30) ◽  
pp. 123-123
Author(s):  
Markus Schöller ◽  
Swetlana Hubrig

AbstractModels of magnetically driven accretion reproduce many observational properties of T Tauri stars. For the more massive Herbig Ae/Be stars, the corresponding picture has been questioned lately, in part driven by the fact that their magnetic fields are typically one order of magnitude weaker. Indeed, the search for magnetic fields in Herbig Ae/Be stars has been quite time consuming, with a detection rate of about 10% (e.g. Alecian et al. 2008), also limited by the current potential to detect weak magnetic fields. Over the last two decades, magnetic fields were found in about twenty objects (Hubrig et al. 2015) and for only two Herbig Ae/Be stars was the magnetic field geometry constrained. Ababakr, Oudmaijer & Vink (2017) studied magnetospheric accretion in 56 Herbig Ae/Be stars and found that the behavior of Herbig Ae stars is similar to T Tauri stars, while Herbig Be stars earlier than B7/B8 are clearly different. The origin of the magnetic fields in Herbig Ae/Be stars is still under debate. Potential scenarios include the concentration of the interstellar magnetic field under magnetic flux conservation, pre-main-sequence dynamos during convective phases, mergers, or common envelope developments. The next step in this line of research will be a dedicated observing campaign to monitor about two dozen HAeBes over their rotation cycle.


2019 ◽  
Vol 630 ◽  
pp. A65 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Bagnulo ◽  
J. D. Landstreet

We report the discovery of weak magnetic fields in three white dwarfs within the local 20 pc volume (WD 0816−310, WD 1009−184, and WD 1532+129), and we confirm the magnetic nature of a fourth star (WD 2138−332) in which we had previously detected a field at a 3σ level. The spectra of all these white dwarfs are characterised by the presence of metal lines and lack of H and He lines, that is, they belong to the spectral class DZ. The polarisation signal of the Ca II H+K lines of WD 1009−184 is particularly spectacular, with an amplitude of 20% that is due to the presence of a magnetic field with an average line-of-sight component of 40 kG. We have thus established that at least 40% of the known DZ white dwarfs with an He-rich atmosphere contained in the 20 pc volume have a magnetic field, while further observations are needed to establish whether the remaining DZ white dwarfs in the same volume are magnetic or not. Metal lines in the spectra of DZ white dwarfs are thought to have originated by accretion from rocky debris, and it might be argued that a link exists between metal accretion and higher occurrence of magnetism. However, we are not able to distinguish whether the magnetic field and the presence of a polluted atmosphere have a common origin, or if it is the presence of metal lines that allows us to detect a higher frequency of magnetic fields in cool white dwarfs, which would otherwise have featureless spectra. We argue that the new highly sensitive longitudinal field measurements that we have made in recent years are consistent with the idea that the magnetic field appears more frequently in older than in younger white dwarfs.


2017 ◽  
Vol 836 ◽  
pp. 374-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huanhao Li ◽  
Chun-Yi Kao ◽  
Chih-Yung Wen

A comprehensive experimental study is presented to analyse the instabilities of a magnetic fluid drop surrounded by miscible fluid confined in a Hele-Shaw cell. The experimental conditions include different magnetic fields (by varying the maximum pre-set magnetic field strengths,$H$, and sweep rates,$SR=\text{d}H_{t}/\text{d}t$, where$H_{t}$is the instant magnetic field strength), gap spans,$h$, and magnetic fluid samples, and are further coupled into a modified Péclect number$Pe^{\prime }$to evaluate the instabilities. Two distinct instabilities are induced by the external magnetic fields with different sweep rates: (i) a labyrinthine fingering instability, where small fingerings emerge around the initial circular interface in the early period, and (ii) secondary waves in the later period. Based on 81 sets of experimental conditions, the initial growth rate of the interfacial length,$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$, of the magnetic drop is found to increase linearly with$Pe^{\prime }$, indicating that$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$is proportional to the square root of the$SR$and$h^{3/2}$at the onset of the labyrinthine instability. In addition, secondary waves, which are characterised by the dimensionless wavelength$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6EC}=\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}/h$, can only be triggered when the three-dimensional magnetic microconvection is strong enough to make$Pe^{\prime }$exceed a critical value, i.e.$Pe^{\prime }>19\,000$, where$\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}$is the wavelength of the secondary wave. In this flow regime of high$Pe^{\prime }$, the length scale of the secondary wave instability is found to be$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6EC}=7\pm 1$, corresponding to the Stokes regime; meanwhile, in the flow regime of low$Pe^{\prime }$, the flow corresponds to the Hele-Shaw regime introduced by Fernandezet al.(J. Fluid Mech., vol. 451, 2002, pp. 239–260).


2013 ◽  
Vol 475-476 ◽  
pp. 3-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing Meng Wang ◽  
Hua Feng Qin ◽  
Qing Song Liu ◽  
Tao Song

A microscope to image weak magnetic fields using a low-temperature superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) had developed with a liquid helium consumption rate of ~0.5L/hour. The gradient pickup coil is made by a low-temperature superconducting niobium wire with a diameter of 66 μm, which is coupled to the input circuit of the SQUID and is then enwound on the sapphire bobbin. Both of the pickup coil and the SQUID sensor are installed in a red copper cold finger, which is thermally anchored to the liquid helium evaporation platform in the vacuum space of the cryostat. To reduce the distance between the pickup coil and sample, a 100 μm thick sapphire window is nestled up to the bottom of the cryostat. A three-dimensional scanning stage platform with a 50 cm Teflon sample rack under the sapphire window had the precision of 10 μm. To test the fidelity of the new facility, the distribution of the magnetic field of basalt slice specimens was determined. Results show that the spatial resolution of the newly-designed facility is 500 μm with a gradient magnetic field sensitivity of 380fT. This opens new opportunities in examining the distribution of magnetic assemblages in samples, which bear great geological and geophysical information.


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