title: Molecular preservation of the pigment melanin in fossil melanosomes.
abstract: Fossil feathers, hairs and eyes are regularly preserved as carbonized traces comprised of masses of micrometre-sized bodies that are spherical, oblate or elongate in shape. For a long time, these minute structures were regarded as the remains of biofilms of keratinophilic bacteria, but recently they have been reinterpreted as melanosomes; that is, colour-bearing organelles. Resolving this fundamental difference in interpretation is crucial: if endogenous then the fossil microbodies would represent a significant advancement in the fields of palaeontology and evolutionary biology given, for example, the possibility to reconstruct integumentary colours and plumage colour patterns. It has previously been shown that certain trace elements occur in fossils as organometallic compounds, and hence may be used as biomarkers for melanin pigments. Here we expand this knowledge by demonstrating the presence of molecularly preserved melanin in intimate association with melanosome-like microbodies isolated from an argentinoid fish eye from the early Eocene of Denmark.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology, Lund University, 223 62 Lund, Sweden. johan.lindgren@geol.lu.se
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lindgren
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Uvdal
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sjövall
authors.forename: Dan E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Engdahl
authors.forename: Bo Pagh
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Schultz
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Thiel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003718:Denmark; D005123:Eye / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005399:Fishes; D005580:Fossils; D008543:Melanins / Q000378:metabolism*; D020460:Melanosomes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D010163:Paleontology; D010858:Pigmentation
chemical_list: D008543:Melanins