Structure of melanins from the fungi Ochroconis lascauxensis and Ochroconis anomala contaminating rock art in the Lascaux Cave
Two novel species of the fungal genus Ochroconis , O . lascauxensis and O . anomala have been isolated from the walls of the Lascaux Cave, France. The interest in these fungi and their melanins lies in the formation of black stains on the walls and rock art which threatens the integrity of the paint...
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Published in | Scientific reports Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 13441 - 11 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
London
Nature Publishing Group UK
18.10.2017
Nature Publishing Group |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Two novel species of the fungal genus
Ochroconis
,
O
.
lascauxensis
and
O
.
anomala
have been isolated from the walls of the Lascaux Cave, France. The interest in these fungi and their melanins lies in the formation of black stains on the walls and rock art which threatens the integrity of the paintings. Here we report solid-state cross polarization magic-angle spinning
13
C and
15
N nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) of the melanins extracted from the mycelia of
O
.
lascauxensis
and
O
.
anomala
in order to known their chemical structure. The melanins from these two species were compared with those from other fungi. The melanins from the
Ochroconis
species have similar SERS and
13
C and
15
N NMR spectra. Their chemical structures as suggested by the data are not related to 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, 5,6-dihydroxyindole or 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene precursors and likely the building blocks from the melanins have to be based on other phenols that react with the N-terminal amino acid of proteins. The analytical pyrolysis of the acid hydrolysed melanin from
O
.
lascauxensis
supports this assumption. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 2045-2322 2045-2322 |
DOI: | 10.1038/s41598-017-13862-7 |