Tissue-specific geometry and chemistry of modern and fossilized melanosomes reveal internal anatomy of extinct vertebrates

dc.contributor.authorRossi, Valentina
dc.contributor.authorMcNamara, Maria E.
dc.contributor.authorWebb, Sam M.
dc.contributor.authorIto, Shosuke
dc.contributor.authorWakamatsu, Kazumasa
dc.contributor.funderEuropean Research Councilen
dc.date.accessioned2019-10-15T06:01:21Z
dc.date.available2019-10-15T06:01:21Z
dc.date.issued2019-08-19
dc.description.abstractRecent reports of nonintegumentary melanosomes in fossils hint at functions for melanin beyond color production, but the biology and evolution of internal melanins are poorly understood. Our results show that internal melanosomes are widespread in diverse fossil and modern vertebrates and have tissue-specific geometries and metal chemistries. Tissue-specific chemical signatures can persist in fossils despite some diagenetic overprint, allowing the reconstruction of internal soft-tissue anatomy in fossil vertebrates, and suggest that links between melanin and metal regulation have deep evolutionary origins in vertebrates.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.en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationRossi, V., McNamara, M. E., Webb, S. M., Ito, S. and Wakamatsu, K. (2019) 'Tissue-specific geometry and chemistry of modern and fossilized melanosomes reveal internal anatomy of extinct vertebrates', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(36), pp. 17880-17889. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1820285116en
dc.identifier.doi10.1073/pnas.1820285116en
dc.identifier.eissn1091-6490
dc.identifier.endpage17889en
dc.identifier.issn0027-8424
dc.identifier.issued36en
dc.identifier.journaltitleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesen
dc.identifier.startpage17880en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/8770
dc.identifier.volume116en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherNational Academy of Sciencesen
dc.relation.projectinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020::ERC::ERC-STG/637691/EU/Animal coloration through deep time: evolutionary novelty, homology and taphonomy/ANICOLEVOen
dc.relation.urihttps://www.pnas.org/content/116/36/17880
dc.rights©2019 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND).en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en
dc.subjectFossil melaninen
dc.subjectSynchrotron X-ray fluorescenceen
dc.subjectSoft tissueen
dc.subjectTaphonomyen
dc.subjectMetallomeen
dc.titleTissue-specific geometry and chemistry of modern and fossilized melanosomes reveal internal anatomy of extinct vertebratesen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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