Chemoenzymatic elaboration of the Raper-Mason pathway unravels the structural diversity within eumelanin pigments

Melanin is a central polymer in living organisms, yet our understanding of its molecular structure remains unresolved. Here, we apply a biosynthetic approach to explore the composite structures accessible in one type of melanin, eumelanin. Using a combination of solid-state NMR, dynamic nuclear pola...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemical science (Cambridge) Vol. 11; no. 3; pp. 7836 - 7841
Main Authors: Ni, Qing Zhe, Sierra, Brianna N, La Clair, James J, Burkart, Michael D
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 14.08.2020
The Royal Society of Chemistry
Subjects:
Chemistry
Composite structures
Melanin
Metabolites
Molecular structure
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Pigments
Polymerization
Substrates
ISSN:2041-6520, 2041-6539
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Melanin is a central polymer in living organisms, yet our understanding of its molecular structure remains unresolved. Here, we apply a biosynthetic approach to explore the composite structures accessible in one type of melanin, eumelanin. Using a combination of solid-state NMR, dynamic nuclear polarization, and electron microscopy, we reveal how a variety of monomers are enzymatically polymerized into their corresponding eumelanin pigments. We demonstrate how this approach can be used to unite structure with an understanding of enzymatic activity, substrate scope, and the regulation of nanostructural features. Overall, this data reveals how intermediate metabolites of the Raper-Mason metabolic pathway contribute to polymerization, allowing us to revisit the original proposal of how eumelanin is biosynthesized. Melanin is a central polymer in living organisms, yet our understanding of its molecular structure remains unresolved.
Bibliography:10.1039/d0sc02262d
Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
ISSN:2041-6520
2041-6539
DOI:10.1039/d0sc02262d