Metabolic-State-Dependent Magnetic Field Effects on Endogenous Flavin Autofluorescence in Escherichia coli
- 1The University of Tokyo
Abstract
We demonstrate that endogenous autofluorescent molecules in Escherichia coli exhibit fluorescence changes exceeding 10% in response to a 25 mT magnetic field under specific physiological and excitation conditions. Fluorescence spectral analysis strongly supports a flavin origin of the magnetically sensitive signal, with a slight blue shift relative to free flavin suggesting a protein-associated population. The analysis further suggests that this magnetic response originates from a flavin-related component contributing only part of the total cellular autofluorescence. This implies that the magnetic field effect exceeding 10% observed in total cellular autofluorescence represents an ensemble-averaged response, and that the intrinsic magnetic field effect within the magnetically sensitive flavin population may be substantially larger. Notably, the magnetic field effect is strongly suppressed by carbon-source supplementation. These findings indicate that the manifestation of the magnetic field effect is associated with the cellular physiological or metabolic state. The field-induced negative fluorescence response and the saturation of the magnetic-field dependence support the radical-pair mechanism and are consistent with a triplet-born radical-pair reaction. This work provides a framework for identifying endogenous biomolecular candidates exhibiting large intracellular magnetic field effects and suggests a new route toward label-free readout of cellular metabolic states based on flavin magnetosensitivity.
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BibTeX
@misc{ikeya2026metabolicstatedependent,
title = {{Metabolic-State-Dependent Magnetic Field Effects on Endogenous Flavin Autofluorescence in Escherichia coli}},
author = {N. Ikeya and M. Omi and J. R. Woodward},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.23.761314},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.23.761314v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Metabolic-State-Dependent Magnetic Field Effects on Endogenous Flavin Autofluorescence in Escherichia coli
AU - N. Ikeya
AU - M. Omi
AU - J. R. Woodward
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.23.761314
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.23.761314v1
AB - We demonstrate that endogenous autofluorescent molecules in Escherichia coli exhibit fluorescence changes exceeding 10% in response to a 25 mT magnetic field under specific physiological and excitation conditions. Fluorescence spectral analysis strongly supports a flavin origin of the magnetically sensitive signal, with a slight blue shift relative to free flavin suggesting a protein-associated population. The analysis further suggests that this magnetic response originates from a flavin-related component contributing only part of the total cellular autofluorescence. This implies that the magnetic field effect exceeding 10% observed in total cellular autofluorescence represents an ensemble-averaged response, and that the intrinsic magnetic field effect within the magnetically sensitive flavin population may be substantially larger. Notably, the magnetic field effect is strongly suppressed by carbon-source supplementation. These findings indicate that the manifestation of the magnetic field effect is associated with the cellular physiological or metabolic state. The field-induced negative fluorescence response and the saturation of the magnetic-field dependence support the radical-pair mechanism and are consistent with a triplet-born radical-pair reaction. This work provides a framework for identifying endogenous biomolecular candidates exhibiting large intracellular magnetic field effects and suggests a new route toward label-free readout of cellular metabolic states based on flavin magnetosensitivity.
ER -