Elemental characterisation of melanin in feathers via synchrotron X-ray imaging and absorption spectroscopy

Nicholas Edwards; Arjen Van Veelen; Jennifer Anne; Phillip Manning; Uwe Bergmann; W I  Sellers; Victoria Egerton; Dimosthenis Sokaras; Roberto Alonso-Mori; Kazumasa Wakamatsu; Shosuke Ito; R A Wogelius

doi:10.1038/srep34002

Elemental characterisation of melanin in feathers via synchrotron X-ray imaging and absorption spectroscopy

Nicholas Edwards, Arjen Van Veelen, Jennifer Anne, Phillip Manning, Uwe Bergmann, W I Sellers, Victoria Egerton, Dimosthenis Sokaras, Roberto Alonso-Mori, Kazumasa Wakamatsu, Shosuke Ito, R A Wogelius

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

128 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Melanin is a critical component of biological systems, but the exact chemistry of melanin is still imprecisely known. This is partly due to melanin’s complex heterogeneous nature and partly because many studies use synthetic analogues and/or pigments extracted from their natural biological setting, which may display important differences from endogenous pigments. Here we demonstrate how synchrotron X-ray analyses can non-destructively characterise the elements associated with melanin pigment in situ within extant feathers. Elemental imaging shows that the distributions of Ca, Cu and Zn are almost exclusively controlled by melanin pigment distribution. X-ray absorption spectroscopy demonstrates that the atomic coordination of zinc and sulfur is different within eumelanised regions compared to pheomelanised regions. This not only impacts our fundamental understanding of pigmentation in extant organisms but also provides a significant contribution to the evidence-based colour palette available for reconstructing the appearance of fossil organisms.

Original language	English
Journal	Scientific Reports
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/srep34002
Publication status	Published - 23 Sept 2016

Access to Document

10.1038/srep34002

Edwards_et_al-2016-Scientific_ReportsFinal published version, 1.95 MB

Embargoed Document

Edwards_etal_Sci_Reports2016
Accepted author manuscript, 14.3 MB
Embargo ends: 1/01/26

ICAL: Interdisciplinary Centre for Ancient Life
Garwood, R. (PI), Wogelius, R. (PI), Sansom, R. (CoI), Buckley, M. (CoI), Chamberlain, A. (CoI), Manning, P. (CoI), Egerton, V. (CoI), Sellers, W. (CoI), Nudds, J. (CoI), Bulot, L. G. (CoI), Brocklehurst, R. (PGR student), Brassey, C. A. (CoI), Keating, J. (CoI), La Porta, A. (CoI), Brocklehurst, R. (PGR student), Callender-Crowe, L. (PGR student), Wallace, E. (PGR student), Chester, J. (PGR student), Davenport, J. (PGR student), Tuley, K. (PGR student), Lomax, D. (Researcher), Reeves, J. (PGR student), Smart, C. (PGR student), Ferro, C. (PGR student), Karoullas, C. (PGR student), Heath, J. (PGR student), Dickson, A. (PGR student), Austin Sydes, L. (PGR student), McLean, C. (PGR student), Harvey, V. (PGR student) & Jones, K. (PI)
Project: Research

Cite this

@article{f740b661d7eb4414831a9a141eaeb4ac,

title = "Elemental characterisation of melanin in feathers via synchrotron X-ray imaging and absorption spectroscopy",

abstract = "Melanin is a critical component of biological systems, but the exact chemistry of melanin is still imprecisely known. This is partly due to melanin{\textquoteright}s complex heterogeneous nature and partly because many studies use synthetic analogues and/or pigments extracted from their natural biological setting, which may display important differences from endogenous pigments. Here we demonstrate how synchrotron X-ray analyses can non-destructively characterise the elements associated with melanin pigment in situ within extant feathers. Elemental imaging shows that the distributions of Ca, Cu and Zn are almost exclusively controlled by melanin pigment distribution. X-ray absorption spectroscopy demonstrates that the atomic coordination of zinc and sulfur is different within eumelanised regions compared to pheomelanised regions. This not only impacts our fundamental understanding of pigmentation in extant organisms but also provides a significant contribution to the evidence-based colour palette available for reconstructing the appearance of fossil organisms.",

author = "Nicholas Edwards and {Van Veelen}, Arjen and Jennifer Anne and Phillip Manning and Uwe Bergmann and Sellers, {W I} and Victoria Egerton and Dimosthenis Sokaras and Roberto Alonso-Mori and Kazumasa Wakamatsu and Shosuke Ito and Wogelius, {R A}",

year = "2016",

month = sep,

day = "23",

doi = "10.1038/srep34002",

language = "English",

journal = "Scientific Reports",

issn = "2045-2322",

publisher = "Springer Nature",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Elemental characterisation of melanin in feathers via synchrotron X-ray imaging and absorption spectroscopy

AU - Edwards, Nicholas

AU - Van Veelen, Arjen

AU - Anne, Jennifer

AU - Manning, Phillip

AU - Bergmann, Uwe

AU - Sellers, W I

AU - Egerton, Victoria

AU - Sokaras, Dimosthenis

AU - Alonso-Mori, Roberto

AU - Wakamatsu, Kazumasa

AU - Ito, Shosuke

AU - Wogelius, R A

PY - 2016/9/23

Y1 - 2016/9/23

N2 - Melanin is a critical component of biological systems, but the exact chemistry of melanin is still imprecisely known. This is partly due to melanin’s complex heterogeneous nature and partly because many studies use synthetic analogues and/or pigments extracted from their natural biological setting, which may display important differences from endogenous pigments. Here we demonstrate how synchrotron X-ray analyses can non-destructively characterise the elements associated with melanin pigment in situ within extant feathers. Elemental imaging shows that the distributions of Ca, Cu and Zn are almost exclusively controlled by melanin pigment distribution. X-ray absorption spectroscopy demonstrates that the atomic coordination of zinc and sulfur is different within eumelanised regions compared to pheomelanised regions. This not only impacts our fundamental understanding of pigmentation in extant organisms but also provides a significant contribution to the evidence-based colour palette available for reconstructing the appearance of fossil organisms.

AB - Melanin is a critical component of biological systems, but the exact chemistry of melanin is still imprecisely known. This is partly due to melanin’s complex heterogeneous nature and partly because many studies use synthetic analogues and/or pigments extracted from their natural biological setting, which may display important differences from endogenous pigments. Here we demonstrate how synchrotron X-ray analyses can non-destructively characterise the elements associated with melanin pigment in situ within extant feathers. Elemental imaging shows that the distributions of Ca, Cu and Zn are almost exclusively controlled by melanin pigment distribution. X-ray absorption spectroscopy demonstrates that the atomic coordination of zinc and sulfur is different within eumelanised regions compared to pheomelanised regions. This not only impacts our fundamental understanding of pigmentation in extant organisms but also provides a significant contribution to the evidence-based colour palette available for reconstructing the appearance of fossil organisms.

U2 - 10.1038/srep34002

DO - 10.1038/srep34002

M3 - Article

SN - 2045-2322

JO - Scientific Reports

JF - Scientific Reports

ER -

Elemental characterisation of melanin in feathers via synchrotron X-ray imaging and absorption spectroscopy

Abstract

Access to Document

Embargoed Document

Fingerprint

Projects

ICAL: Interdisciplinary Centre for Ancient Life

Cite this