ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2019
Tissue-specific geometry and chemistry of modern and fossilized melanosomes reveal internal anatomy of extinct vertebrates.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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21 citing papers in PubMed, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- The colour of sauropod skin. A comment on: 'Fossilized melanosomes reveal colour patterning of a sauropod dinosaur', (2025) by GallagherRoyal Society open science · 2026Article
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- From melanogenesis to melanin technologies.Communications chemistry · 2025Review
- High melanosome diversity exhibits weak correlation with color and environmental variables in the early evolution of therian mammals.Science advances · 2025Article
- Evolutionary adaptations of TRPA1 thermosensitivity and skin thermoregulation in vertebrates.iScience · 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
- Pulmonary arteries in coelacanths shed light on the vasculature evolution of air-breathing organs in vertebrates.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Fossilized anuran soft tissues reveal a new taphonomic model for the Eocene Geiseltal Konservat-Lagerstätte, Germany.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Taphonomic experiments reveal authentic molecular signals for fossil melanins and verify preservation of phaeomelanin in fossils.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Recent Advances in Characterization of Melanin Pigments in Biological Samples.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Prominent Roles and Conflicted Attitudes of Eumelanin in the Living World.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
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- Detection of porphyrins in vertebrate fossils from the Messel and implications for organic preservation in the fossil record.PloS one · 2022Article
- Improved HPLC Conditions to Determine Eumelanin and Pheomelanin Contents in Biological Samples Using an Ion Pair Reagent.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Article
- Hierarchical biota-level and taxonomic controls on the chemistry of fossil melanosomes revealed using synchrotron X-ray fluorescence.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Recent advances in amniote palaeocolour reconstruction and a framework for future research.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2020Article
- Synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy of melanosomes in vertebrates and cephalopods: implications for the affinity ofProceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Recent discoveries of nonintegumentary melanosomes in extant and fossil amphibians offer potential insights into the physiological functions of melanin not directly related to color production, but the phylogenetic distribution and evolutionary history of these internal melanosomes has not been characterized systematically. Here, we present a holistic method to discriminate among melanized tissues by analyzing the anatomical distribution, morphology, and chemistry of melanosomes in various tissues in a phylogenetically broad sample of extant and fossil vertebrates. Our results show that internal melanosomes in all extant vertebrates analyzed have tissue-specific geometries and elemental signatures. Similar distinct populations of preserved melanosomes in phylogenetically diverse vertebrate fossils often map onto specific anatomical features. This approach also reveals the presence of various melanosome-rich internal tissues in fossils, providing a mechanism for the interpretation of the internal anatomy of ancient vertebrates. Collectively, these data indicate that vertebrate melanins share fundamental physiological roles in homeostasis via the scavenging and sequestering of metals and suggest that intimate links between melanin and metal metabolism in vertebrates have deep evolutionary origins.
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