Prominent Roles and Conflicted Attitudes of Eumelanin in the Living World

Eumelanin, a macromolecule widespread in all the living world and long appreciated for its protective action against harmful UV radiation, is considered the beneficial component of the melanin family (ευ means good in ancient Greek). This initially limited picture has been rather recently extended a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of molecular sciences 2023-04, Vol.24 (9), p.7783
Main Author: Terranova, Maria Letizia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biopolymers
Carboniferous
Enzymes
Fossils
Fungi
Invertebrates
Melanin
Melanins
Natural selection
Oxidants
Oxidizing agents
Reactive Oxygen Species
Review
Ultraviolet radiation
Ultraviolet Rays
Vertebrates
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Eumelanin, a macromolecule widespread in all the living world and long appreciated for its protective action against harmful UV radiation, is considered the beneficial component of the melanin family (ευ means good in ancient Greek). This initially limited picture has been rather recently extended and now includes a variety of key functions performed by eumelanin in order to support life also under extreme conditions. A lot of still unexplained aspects characterize this molecule that, in an evolutionary context, survived natural selection. This paper aims to emphasize the unique characteristics and the consequent unusual behaviors of a molecule that still holds the main chemical/physical features detected in fossils dating to the late Carboniferous. In this context, attention is drawn to the duality of roles played by eumelanin, which occasionally reverses its functional processes, switching from an anti-oxidant to a pro-oxidant behavior and implementing therefore harmful effects.
ISSN:1422-0067
1661-6596
1422-0067
DOI:10.3390/ijms24097783