Virginia Tech
    • Log in
    View Item 
    •   VTechWorks Home
    • University Libraries
    • Open Access Subvention Fund Articles
    • View Item
    •   VTechWorks Home
    • University Libraries
    • Open Access Subvention Fund Articles
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Chemical, experimental, and morphological evidence for diagenetically altered melanin in exceptionally preserved fossils

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    CollearyChemical2015.pdf (1.644Mb)
    Downloads: 176
    Date
    2015-10-13
    Author
    Colleary, Caitlin
    Dolocan, Andrei
    Gardner, James
    Singh, Suresh
    Wuttke, Michael
    Rabenstein, Renate
    Habersetzer, Jörg
    Schaal, Stephan
    Feseha, Mulugeta
    Clemens, Matthew
    Jacobs, Bonnie F.
    Currano, Ellen D.
    Jacobs, Louis L.
    Sylvestersen, Rene Lyng
    Gabbott, Sarah E.
    Vinther, Jakob
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    In living organisms, color patterns, behavior, and ecology are closely linked. Thus, detection of fossil pigments may permit inferences about important aspects of ancient animal ecology and evolution. Melanin-bearing melanosomes were suggested to preserve as organic residues in exceptionally preserved fossils, retaining distinct morphology that is associated with aspects of original color patterns. Nevertheless, these oblong and spherical structures have also been identified as fossilized bacteria. To date, chemical studies have not directly considered the effects of diagenesis on melanin preservation, and how this may influence its identification. Here we use time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry to identify and chemically characterize melanin in a diverse sample of previously unstudied extant and fossil taxa, including fossils with notably different diagenetic histories and geologic ages. We document signatures consistent with melanin preservation in fossils ranging from feathers, to mammals, to amphibians. Using principal component analyses, we characterize putative mixtures of eumelanin and phaeomelanin in both fossil and extant samples. Surprisingly, both extant and fossil amphibians generally exhibit melanosomes with a mixed eumelanin/phaeomelanin composition rather than pure eumelanin, as assumed previously. We argue that experimental maturation of modern melanin samples replicates diagenetic chemical alteration of melanin observed in fossils. This refutes the hypothesis that such fossil microbodies could be bacteria, and demonstrates that melanin is widely responsible for the organic soft tissue outlines in vertebrates found at exceptional fossil localities, thus allowing for the reconstruction of certain aspects of original pigment patterns.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10919/75955
    Collections
    • Open Access Subvention Fund Articles [817]
    • Scholarly Works, Department of Geosciences [221]

    If you believe that any material in VTechWorks should be removed, please see our policy and procedure for Requesting that Material be Amended or Removed. All takedown requests will be promptly acknowledged and investigated.

    Virginia Tech | University Libraries | Contact Us
     

     

    VTechWorks

    AboutPoliciesHelp

    Browse

    All of VTechWorksCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    Log inRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    If you believe that any material in VTechWorks should be removed, please see our policy and procedure for Requesting that Material be Amended or Removed. All takedown requests will be promptly acknowledged and investigated.

    Virginia Tech | University Libraries | Contact Us