ArticleEcology and evolution2015
Dispersive Raman spectroscopy allows the identification and quantification of melanin types.
Article in Ecology and evolution, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Microbial production of eumelanin from a desert-derived Aspergillus terreus: statistical optimization, comprehensive characterization, and in silico insights into breast cancer-associated targets.Microbial cell factories · 2026Article
- Sustainable Production and Characterization of Eumelanin from Organically CultivatedInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
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- A new non-destructive method to decipher the origin of organic matter in fossils using Raman spectroscopy.RSC advances · 2024Article
- Recent Advances in Characterization of Melanin Pigments in Biological Samples.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Melanin distribution from the dermal-epidermal junction to the stratum corneum: non-invasive in vivo assessment by fluorescence and Raman microspectroscopy.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Chemical characterization of pterosaur melanin challenges color inferences in extinct animals.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Pheomelanin synthesis varies with protein food abundance in developing goshawks.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2019Article
- Solar and terrestrial radiations explain continental-scale variation in bird pigmentation.Oecologia · 2018Article
- Melanins in Fossil Animals: Is It Possible to Infer Life History Traits from the Coloration of Extinct Species?International journal of molecular sciences · 2018Review
- Raman spectroscopy as a tool for ecology and evolution.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2017Review
- Article
- Bird Integumentary Melanins: Biosynthesis, Forms, Function and Evolution.International journal of molecular sciences · 2016Review
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Melanins are the most prevalent pigments in animals and are involved in visual communication by producing colored traits that often evolve as intraspecific signals of quality. Identifying and quantifying melanins are therefore essential to understand the function and evolution of melanin-based signals. However, the analysis of melanins is difficult due to their insolubility and the lack of simple methods that allow the identification of their chemical forms. We recently proposed the use of Raman spectroscopy as a simple, noninvasive technique that can be used to identify and quantify melanins in feathers and hairs. Contrarily, other authors later stated that melanins are characterized by a lack of defined Raman signals. Here, we use confocal Raman microscopy to confirm previous analyses showing that the two main chemical forms of melanins (eumelanin and pheomelanin) exhibit distinct Raman signal and compare different excitation wavelengths to analyze synthetic pheomelanin and natural melanins in feathers of different species of birds. Our analyses indicate that only laser excitation wavelengths below 1064 nm are useful for the analysis of melanins by Raman spectroscopy, and only 780-nm laser in the case of melanins in feathers. These findings show that the capacity of Raman spectroscopy to distinguish different chemical forms of melanins depends on laser power and integration time. As a consequence, Raman spectroscopy should be applied after preliminar analyses using a range of these parameters, especially in fragile biological tissues such as feathers.
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