Direct chemical evidence for eumelanin pigment from the Jurassic period.
Keely Glass,Shosuke Ito,Philip R. Wilby,Takayuki Sota,Atsushi Nakamura,C. Russell Bowers,Jakob Vinther,Suryendu Dutta,Suryendu Dutta,Roger E. Summons,Derek E. G. Briggs,Kazumasa Wakamatsu,John D. Simon,John D. Simon +13 more
TLDR
Direct chemical techniques are applied to categorically demonstrate the preservation of eumelanin in two > 160 Ma Jurassic cephalopod ink sacs and to confirm its chemical similarity to the ink of the modern cepHalopod, Sepia officinalis.Abstract:
Melanin is a ubiquitous biological pigment found in bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals. It has a diverse range of ecological and biochemical functions, including display, evasion, photoprotection, detoxification, and metal scavenging. To date, evidence of melanin in fossil organisms has relied entirely on indirect morphological and chemical analyses. Here, we apply direct chemical techniques to categorically demonstrate the preservation of eumelanin in two > 160 Ma Jurassic cephalopod ink sacs and to confirm its chemical similarity to the ink of the modern cephalopod, Sepia officinalis. Identification and characterization of degradation-resistant melanin may provide insights into its diverse roles in ancient organisms.read more
Citations
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Melanins: Skin Pigments and Much More—Types, Structural Models, Biological Functions, and Formation Routes
TL;DR: All melanins show a common feature, a protective role, but they are not merely photoprotective pigments against UV sunlight; in pathogenic microorganisms, melanization becomes a virulence factor since melanin protects microbial cells from defense mechanisms in the infected host.
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Molluscan shell colour
TL;DR: It is suggested that pigments appear to be distributed in a phylogenetically relevant manner and that the synthesis of colour is likely to be energetically costly.
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Ancient biomolecules: Their origins, fossilization, and role in revealing the history of life
TL;DR: The discovery of traces of a blood meal in the abdomen of a 50‐million‐year‐old mosquito reminds us of the insights that the chemistry of fossils can provide in revealing the history of life.
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Cephalopod Ink: Production, Chemistry, Functions and Applications
TL;DR: This review summarizes the current knowledge of cephalopod ink and discusses the chemical components of ink, with a focus on the best known of these—melanin and the biochemical pathways involved in its production.
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Catechol-mediated reversible binding of multivalent cations in eumelanin half-cells
TL;DR: A cathode based on naturally derived melanin pigments is used in secondary Mg2+ batteries to preserve charge storage capacity in biopolymer cathodes for more than 500 cycles.
References
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The physical and chemical properties of eumelanin.
Paul Meredith,Tadeusz Sarna +1 more
TL;DR: A full understanding of melanin function, and indeed its role in retarding or promoting the disease state, can only be obtained through a full mapping of key structure-property relationships in the main pigment types.
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Analysis, structure and geochemical significance of organically-bound sulphur in the geosphere : state of the art and future research
TL;DR: A review of the developments of the 1980s in the characterisation of organically-bound sulphur in the geosphere and summarises the geochemical significance of the results obtained by these studies can be found in this paper.
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Current challenges in understanding melanogenesis: bridging chemistry, biological control, morphology, and function.
TL;DR: This review examines the current understanding of the initial chemical steps in the melanogenesis and focuses on the mixed melanin systems, with a critical eye towards understanding how studies on individual melanin do and do not provide insight in the molecular aspects of their structures.
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Differentiating calcium carbonate polymorphs by surface analysis techniques—an XPS and TOF‐SIMS study
Ming Ni,Buddy D. Ratner +1 more
TL;DR: Three polymorphs of calcium carbonate cluster into three different groups by PCA scores suggests that surface analysis techniques are as powerful as conventional bulk analysis to discriminate calciumcarbonate polymorphs.
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Fossilized melanosomes and the colour of Cretaceous dinosaurs and birds
Fucheng Zhang,Stuart L. Kearns,Patrick J. Orr,Michael J. Benton,Zhonghe Zhou,D. Johnson,Xing Xu,Xiaolin Wang +7 more
TL;DR: It is reported that melanosomes (colour-bearing organelles) are not only preserved in the pennaceous feathers of early birds, but also in an identical manner in integumentary filaments of non-avian dinosaurs, thus refuting recent claims that the filaments are partially decayed dermal collagen fibres.