Abstract

Melanin is a natural pigment present in almost all biological groups, and is composed of indolic polymers and characterized by black-brown colorization. Furthermore, it is one of the pigments produced by extremophiles including those living in the Antarctic desert, and is mainly involved in their protection from high UV radiation, desiccation, salinity and oxidation. Previous studies have shown that melanized species have an increased capability to survive high level of radiation compared with the non-melanized counterpart. Understanding the molecular composition of fungal melanin could help to understand this peculiar capability. Here, we aimed to characterize the melanin pigment extracted from the Antarctic black fungus Cryomyces antarcticus, which is a good test model for radioprotection researches, by studying its chemical properties and spectral data. Our results demonstrated that, in spite of having a specific type of melanin as the majority of fungi, the fungus possesses the ability to produce both 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN) and l 3-4 dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) melanins, opening interesting scenarios for the protection role against radiation. Researches on fungal melanin have a huge application in different fields, including radioprotection, bioremediation, and biomedical applications.

Key Points

• Isolation and characterization by multidisciplinary approaches of fungal melanins.

• Discovery that pathways for producing DOPA and DHN are both active even in its extreme habitat.

• Hypothesis supporting the possibility of using melanin pigment for radioprotection.

中文翻译：

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黑真菌南极低温细菌（Cryomyces antarcticus）黑色素色素的多学科表征。

摘要

黑色素是一种几乎存在于所有生物基团中的天然色素，由吲哚聚合物组成，其特征是黑褐色。此外，它是极端微生物（包括生活在南极沙漠中的极端微生物）产生的颜料之一，并且主要涉及其免受高紫外线辐射，干燥，盐分和氧化的影响。先前的研究表明，与未黑化的物种相比，黑化的物种具有更高的生存能力，可以抵抗高水平的辐射。了解真菌黑色素的分子组成可能有助于了解这种独特的能力。在这里，我们旨在表征从南极黑木耳Cryomyces antarcticus提取的黑色素色素。，通过研究其化学性质和光谱数据，是进行放射防护研究的良好测试模型。我们的结果表明，尽管具有黑色素的特定类型，因为大部分真菌的，真菌具有产生两个1,8-二羟基萘（DHN）和能力升3-4二羟基苯（L-DOPA）黑色素，开口防辐射的有趣场景。真菌黑色素的研究在辐射防护，生物修复和生物医学应用等不同领域有着广泛的应用。

关键点

•通过真菌黑色素的多学科方法进行分离和鉴定。

•发现即使在其极端栖息地中，产生DOPA和DHN的途径均很活跃。

•假设支持使用黑色素色素进行放射防护的可能性。