Direct chemical evidence for eumelanin pigment from the Jurassic period
Edited by Luigi Zecca, Italian National Research Council, Segrate, Italy, and accepted by the Editorial Board April 2, 2012 (received for review November 9, 2011)
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.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
Fossil samples were provided by the British Geological Survey and Mr. Paddy Howe. We thank Dr. Paul Angiolillo and Jeff Rawson for their assistance with the EPR and Dr. Dubay for his assistance with the LC–MS–TOF. Dr. Dubay was supported by NSF Grant 0923097 for the project MRI: Acquisition of an MS–TOF. We also thank Dr. David Gooden and Dr. Amanda Hoertz for preparing and analyzing our degradation standards, respectively. A portion of this work was performed in the AMRIS NHMFL, a national facility operated by the University of Florida at Gainesville on behalf of the US Department of Energy and the State of Florida, which is supported by NSF Cooperative Agreement No. DMR-0654118. Research in the Summons lab was supported by a grant from the NASA Astrobiology Institute to the MIT Team. S.I. and K.W. were supported by two grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Nos. 20591357 and 23591659. The Briggs Lab was supported by NSF grant EAR-0720062. P.R.W. was supported by the Curry Fund, Geologists’ Association. Data reported in this paper are tabulated within the Supporting Information.
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Published online: May 21, 2012
Published in issue: June 26, 2012
Acknowledgments
Fossil samples were provided by the British Geological Survey and Mr. Paddy Howe. We thank Dr. Paul Angiolillo and Jeff Rawson for their assistance with the EPR and Dr. Dubay for his assistance with the LC–MS–TOF. Dr. Dubay was supported by NSF Grant 0923097 for the project MRI: Acquisition of an MS–TOF. We also thank Dr. David Gooden and Dr. Amanda Hoertz for preparing and analyzing our degradation standards, respectively. A portion of this work was performed in the AMRIS NHMFL, a national facility operated by the University of Florida at Gainesville on behalf of the US Department of Energy and the State of Florida, which is supported by NSF Cooperative Agreement No. DMR-0654118. Research in the Summons lab was supported by a grant from the NASA Astrobiology Institute to the MIT Team. S.I. and K.W. were supported by two grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Nos. 20591357 and 23591659. The Briggs Lab was supported by NSF grant EAR-0720062. P.R.W. was supported by the Curry Fund, Geologists’ Association. Data reported in this paper are tabulated within the Supporting Information.
Notes
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. L.Z. is a guest editor invited by the Editorial Board.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Direct chemical evidence for eumelanin pigment from the Jurassic period, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
109 (26) 10218-10223,
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1118448109
(2012).
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