Maturation experiments reveal bias in the chemistry of fossil melanosomes

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dc.contributor.authorRossi, Valentina
dc.contributor.authorWebb, Samuel M.
dc.contributor.authorMcNamara, Maria E.
dc.contributor.funderEuropean Research Councilen
dc.contributor.funderU.S. Department of Energyen
dc.contributor.funderHorizon 2020en
dc.date.accessioned2021-09-09T09:54:00Z
dc.date.available2021-09-09T09:54:00Z
dc.date.issued2021-03-22
dc.date.updated2021-09-07T10:09:06Z
dc.description.abstractFossil melanosomes are a major focus of paleobiological research because they can inform on the original coloration, phylogenetic affinities, and internal anatomy of ancient animals. Recent studies of vertebrate melanosomes revealed tissue-specific trends in melanosome-metal associations that can persist in fossils. In some fossil vertebrates, however, melanosomes from all body regions are enriched only in Cu, suggesting diagenetic overprinting of original chemistry. We tested this hypothesis using laboratory experiments on melanosomes from skin and liver of the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis. After maturation in Cu-rich media, the metal chemistry of melanosomes from these tissues converged toward a common composition, and original differences in Cu oxidation state were lost. Elevated Cu concentrations and a pervasive Cu(II) signal are likely indicators of diagenetically altered melanosomes. These results provide a robust experimental basis for interpretating the chemistry of fossil melanosomes.en
dc.description.sponsorshipU.S. Department of Energy (Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under contract DE-AC02–76SF00515, under proposal 5072)en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationRossi, V., Webb, S. M. and McNamara, M. (2021) 'Maturation experiments reveal bias in the chemistry of fossil melanosomes', Geology, 49(7), pp. 784-788. doi: 10.1130/G48696.1en
dc.identifier.doi10.1130/G48696.1en
dc.identifier.eissn0091-7613
dc.identifier.endpage788en
dc.identifier.issn0091-7613
dc.identifier.journaltitleGeologyen
dc.identifier.startpage784en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/11856
dc.identifier.volume49en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherGeological Society of Americaen
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.rights© 2021 The Authors. Gold Open Access: This paper is published under the terms of the CC-BY license.en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectFossil coloren
dc.subjectMelanosomesen
dc.subjectMelanosome chemistryen
dc.subjectFossil biotasen
dc.titleMaturation experiments reveal bias in the chemistry of fossil melanosomesen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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