Strycker Benjamin D, Han Zehua, Bahari Aysan, Pham Tuyetnhu, Lin Xiaorong, Shaw Brian D, Sokolov Alexei V, Scully Marlan O
Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76704, USA.
J Fungi (Basel). 2021 Oct 7;7(10):841. doi: 10.3390/jof7100841.
Fungal melanins represent a resource for important breakthroughs in industry and medicine, but the characterization of their composition, synthesis, and structure is not well understood. Raman spectroscopy is a powerful tool for the elucidation of molecular composition and structure. In this work, we characterize the Raman spectra of wild-type and and their melanin biosynthetic mutants and provide a rough "map" of the DHN () and DOPA () melanin biosynthetic pathways. We compare this map to the Raman spectral data of wild-type and melanin biosynthetic mutants obtained from a previous study. We find that the fully polymerized melanin cannot be classified according to the DOPA pathway; nor can it be solely classified according to the DHN pathway, consistent with mutational analysis and chemical inhibition studies. Our approach points the way forward for an increased understanding of, and methodology for, investigating fungal melanins.
真菌黑色素是工业和医学领域重要突破的资源,但对其组成、合成和结构的表征尚不清楚。拉曼光谱是阐明分子组成和结构的有力工具。在这项工作中,我们对野生型及其黑色素生物合成突变体的拉曼光谱进行了表征,并提供了二羟基萘(DHN)和多巴(DOPA)黑色素生物合成途径的粗略“图谱”。我们将此图谱与先前研究中获得的野生型和黑色素生物合成突变体的拉曼光谱数据进行了比较。我们发现,完全聚合的黑色素不能根据多巴途径进行分类;也不能仅根据二羟基萘途径进行分类,这与突变分析和化学抑制研究一致。我们的方法为增进对真菌黑色素的理解以及研究真菌黑色素的方法指明了方向。