Browse
Submit Data
Databases
API
Help

Dataset Information

0 Views

0 Connections

0 Citations

0 Reanalyses

0 Downloads

Omics score: 0

Melanin concentration gradients in modern and fossil feathers.

ABSTRACT: In birds and feathered non-avian dinosaurs, within-feather pigmentation patterns range from discrete spots and stripes to more subtle patterns, but the latter remain largely unstudied. A ?55 million year old fossil contour feather with a dark distal tip grading into a lighter base was recovered from the Fur Formation in Denmark. SEM and synchrotron-based trace metal mapping confirmed that this gradient was caused by differential concentration of melanin. To assess the potential ecological and phylogenetic prevalence of this pattern, we evaluated 321 modern samples from 18 orders within Aves. We observed that the pattern was found most frequently in distantly related groups that share aquatic ecologies (e.g. waterfowl Anseriformes, penguins Sphenisciformes), suggesting a potential adaptive function with ancient origins.

SUBMITTER: Field DJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3608712 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Json Xml

Publications

Melanin concentration gradients in modern and fossil feathers.

Field Daniel J DJ D'Alba Liliana L Vinther Jakob J Webb Samuel M SM Gearty William W Shawkey Matthew D MD

PloS one 20130326 3

In birds and feathered non-avian dinosaurs, within-feather pigmentation patterns range from discrete spots and stripes to more subtle patterns, but the latter remain largely unstudied. A ∼55 million year old fossil contour feather with a dark distal tip grading into a lighter base was recovered from the Fur Formation in Denmark. SEM and synchrotron-based trace metal mapping confirmed that this gradient was caused by differential concentration of melanin. To assess the potential ecological and ph ...[more]

PMID: 23555675

Similar Datasets

Seeking carotenoid pigments in amber-preserved fossil feathers.

Project description:Plumage colours bestowed by carotenoid pigments can be important for visual communication and likely have a long evolutionary history within Aves. Discovering plumage carotenoids in fossil feathers could provide insight into the ecology of ancient birds and non-avian dinosaurs. With reference to a modern feather, we sought chemical evidence of carotenoids in six feathers preserved in amber (Miocene to mid-Cretaceous) and in a feather preserved as a compression fossil (Eocene). Evidence of melanin pigmentation and microstructure preservation was evaluated with scanning electron and light microscopies. We observed fine microstructural details including evidence for melanin pigmentation in the amber and compression fossils, but Raman spectral bands did not confirm the presence of carotenoids in them. Carotenoids may have been originally absent from these feathers or the pigments may have degraded during burial; the preservation of microstructure may suggest the former. Significantly, we show that carotenoid plumage pigments can be detected without sample destruction through an amber matrix using confocal Raman spectroscopy.

| S-EPMC4048910 | biostudies-literature

Ancient amino acids from fossil feathers in amber.

Project description:Ancient protein analysis is a rapidly developing field of research. Proteins ranging in age from the Quaternary to Jurassic are being used to answer questions about phylogeny, evolution, and extinction. However, these analyses are sometimes contentious, and focus primarily on large vertebrates in sedimentary fossilisation environments; there are few studies of protein preservation in fossils in amber. Here we show exceptionally slow racemisation rates during thermal degradation experiments of resin enclosed feathers, relative to previous thermal degradation experiments of ostrich eggshell, coral skeleton, and limpet shell. We also recover amino acids from two specimens of fossil feathers in amber. The amino acid compositions are broadly similar to those of degraded feathers, but concentrations are very low, suggesting that much of the original protein has been degraded and lost. High levels of racemisation in more apolar, slowly racemising amino acids suggest that some of the amino acids were ancient and therefore original. Our findings indicate that the unique fossilisation environment inside amber shows potential for the recovery of ancient amino acids and proteins.

| S-EPMC6478714 | biostudies-literature

Mutations in SLC45A2 lead to loss of melanin in parrot feathers.

Project description:Bird plumage coloration is a complex and multifactorial process that involves both genetic and environmental factors. Diverse pigment groups contribute to plumage variation in different birds. In parrots, the predominant green color results from the combination of 2 different primary colors: yellow and blue. Psittacofulvin, a pigment uniquely found in parrots, is responsible for the yellow coloration, while blue is suggested to be the result of light scattering by feather nanostructures and melanin granules. So far, genetic control of melanin-mediated blue coloration has been elusive. In this study, we demonstrated that feather from the yellow mutant rose-ringed parakeet displays loss of melanosome granules in spongy layer of feather barb. Using whole genome sequencing, we found that mutation in SLC45A2, an important solute carrier protein in melanin synthetic pathway, is responsible for the sex-linked yellow phenotype in rose-ringed parakeet. Intriguingly, one of the mutations, P53L found in yellow Psittacula krameri is already reported as P58A/S in the human albinism database, known to be associated with human OCA4. We further showed that mutations in SLC45A2 gene affect melanin production also in other members of Psittaculidae family such as alexandrine and plum-headed parakeets. Additionally, we demonstrate that the mutations associated with the sex-linked yellow phenotype, localized within the transmembrane domains of the SLC45A2 protein, affect the protein localization pattern. This is the first evidence of plumage color variation involving SLC45A2 in parrots and confirmation of associated mutations in the transmembrane domains of the protein that affects its localization.

| S-EPMC10849330 | biostudies-literature

The early evolution of feathers: fossil evidence from Cretaceous amber of France.

Project description:The developmental stages of feathers are of major importance in the evolution of body covering and the origin of avian flight. Until now, there were significant gaps in knowledge of early morphologies in theoretical stages of feathers as well as in palaeontological material. Here we report fossil evidence of an intermediate and critical stage in the incremental evolution of feathers which has been predicted by developmental theories but hitherto undocumented by evidence from both the recent and the fossil records. Seven feathers have been found in an Early Cretaceous (Late Albian, ca 100 Myr) amber of western France, which display a flattened shaft composed by the still distinct and incompletely fused bases of the barbs forming two irregular vanes. Considering their remarkably primitive features, and since recent discoveries have yielded feathers of modern type in some derived theropod dinosaurs, the Albian feathers from France might have been derived either from an early bird or from a non-avian dinosaur.

| S-EPMC2602696 | biostudies-literature

Sulfitolytic and keratinolytic potential of Chryseobacterium sp. RBT revealed hydrolysis of melanin containing feathers.

Project description:In black feathers, melanin is embedded in keratin matrix that makes feather more resistance to the microbial degradation. Chryseobacterium sp. RBT previously isolated from the poultry waste disposable site revealed strong sulfitolytic and keratinolytic activities. Maximum keratinase activity was observed at 48 h (89.12 U ml-1) showed 83 % of native black feather degradation. The concentration of free sulfhydryl groups released during degradation was 0.648 × 10-4 M (12 h), 2.144 × 10-4 M (96 h), and however, declined on prolong incubation to 1.752 × 10-4 M (120 h). Melanin was released in the degradation medium after microbial exploitation of black feather. After purification, melanin was dark brown colored powder insoluble in water, 5 M HCL, ethanol, methanol, benzene, chloroform, and acetone; whereas, soluble in KOH and NaOH. On exposure to oxidizing and reducing reagents feather melanin showed decolorization, while formed a brown precipitate when reacted with FeCl3. The spectroscopic characterization of isolated melanin demonstrated absorption at infra-red region. Similarly, UV-visible scan confirmed that increase in the wavelength progressively declined the absorbance of pigment. The crude keratinase enzyme (2 % v/v) produced during degradation showed complete dehairing of goat skin within 20 h.

| S-EPMC4919140 | biostudies-literature

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

Project description: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.

| S-EPMC5034265 | biostudies-literature

Postmortem transport in fossil and modern shelled cephalopods.

Project description:The chambered shells of cephalopod mollusks, such as modern Nautilus and fossil ammonoids, have the potential to float after death, which could result in significant postmortem transport of shells away from living habitats. Such transport would call into question these clades' documented biogeographic distributions and therefore the many (paleo)biological interpretations based on them. It is therefore imperative to better constrain the likelihood and extent of postmortem transport in modern and fossil cephalopods. Here, I combine the results of classic experiments on postmortem buoyancy with datasets on cephalopod shell form to determine that only those shells with relatively high inflation are likely to float for a significant interval after death and therefore potentially experience postmortem transport. Most ammonoid cephalopods have shell forms making postmortem transport unlikely. Data on shell forms and geographic ranges of early Late Cretaceous cephalopod genera demonstrate that even genera with shell forms conducive to postmortem buoyancy do not, in fact, show artificially inflated biogeographic ranges relative to genera with non-buoyant morphologies. Finally, georeferenced locality data for living nautilid specimens and dead drift shells indicate that most species have relatively small geographic ranges and experience limited drift. Nautilus pompilius is the exception, with a broad Indo-Pacific range and drift shells found far from known living populations. Given the similarity of N. pompilius to other nautilids in its morphology and ecology, it seems unlikely that this species would have a significantly different postmortem fate than its close relatives. Rather, it is suggested that drift shells along the east African coast may indicate the existence of modern (or recently extirpated) living populations of nautilus in the western Indian Ocean, which has implications for the conservation of these cephalopods.

| S-EPMC6266924 | biostudies-literature

Modern and Fossil Coral Skeletal Proteomes - Fossil Insoluble GluC

Project description:Here we report the first recovery, sequencing, and identification of fossil biomineral proteins from a Pleistocene invertebrate. Fossils of the Caribbean stony coral Orbicella annularis retain total hydrolyzable amino acids of a similar composition to extracts from modern O. annularis skeletons and ~10% of the modern skeletal proteome was sequenced by LC-MS/MS over multiple trials in the best-preserved fossil coral specimen. The data are rich in acidic amino acids such as aspartate and glutamate typical of skeletal proteins, and one of the four sequenced fossil proteins, a highly acidic protein, has been previously characterized in modern coral skeletons. A combination of degradation, or amino acid racemization inhibition of trypsin digestion, appears to limit greater recovery. Nevertheless, our workflow determines optimal samples for effective sequencing of fossil coral proteins, allowing comparison of modern and fossil invertebrate protein sequences, and will likely lead to further improvements of the methods. Sequencing of endogenous organic molecules in fossil biominerals provides an ancient record of composition, potentially clarifying evolutionary changes and biotic responses to paleoenvironments.

2020-10-27 | PXD017879 | Pride

Modern and Fossil Coral Skeletal Proteomes - Fossil Soluble Trypsin2

2020-10-27 | PXD017878 | Pride

Modern and Fossil Coral Skeletal Proteomes - Fossil Soluble GluC

2020-10-27 | PXD017877 | Pride