Magnetoreception: an unavoidable step for plant evolution?

• Plants respond to variations of the geomagnetic field (GMF).
• Cryptochrome might be involved in plant magnetoreception.
• In the history of our planet the GMF has exhibited several changes of magnetic polarity.
• Periods of normal polarity overlap with the diversion of angiosperm lineages.

The geomagnetic field (GMF) is steadily acting on living systems, and influences many biological processes. In animals, the mechanistic origin of the GMF effect has been clarified and cryptochrome has been suggested as a chemical magnetoreceptor. Here we propose a possible role for the GMF variations in plant evolution.