[Antioxidant features of fungal melanin pigments].
Fungal melanin pigments were shown to display a high antioxidant activity. An increase in the number of methyl substituents in benzidine molecules of melanins obtained from micromycetes and macromycetes was accompanied by a decrease in the efficiency of inhibition of peroxidase-catalyzed oxidation. Melanins were found to have considerable gene-protecting properties. Pigments isolated from macromycetes and applied at a much lower concentration than those obtained from micromycetes prevented damage to bacteriophage-lambda DNA induced by products of peroxidase-catalyzed degradation of aminobiphenyls.
Shcherba
V V
VV
Institute of Microbiology, Belarussian Academy of Sciences, Minsk, Belarus.
Babitskaia
V G
VG
Kurchenko
V P
VP
Ikonnikova
N V
NV
Kukulianskaia
T A
TA
D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001487:Basidiomycota; D008543:Melanins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction
D000975:Antioxidants; D008543:Melanins