Pigment-based coloration is a common trait found in a variety of organisms across the tree of life. For example, calcareous avian eggs are natural structures that vary greatly in color, yet just a handful of tetrapyrrole pigment compounds are responsible for generating this myriad of colors. To fully understand the diversity and constraints shaping nature's palette, it is imperative to characterize the similarities and differences in the types of compounds involved in color production across diverse lineages. Pigment composition was investigated in eggshells of eleven paleognath bird taxa, covering several extinct and extant lineages, and shells of four extant species of mollusks. Birds and mollusks are two distantly related, calcareous shell-building groups, thus characterization of pigments in their calcareous structures would provide insights to whether similar compounds are found in different phyla (Chordata and Mollusca). An ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) extraction protocol was used to analyze the presence and concentration of biliverdin and protoporphyrin, two known and ubiquitous tetrapyrrole avian eggshell pigments, in all avian and molluscan samples. Biliverdin was solely detected in birds, including the colorful eggshells of four tinamou species. In contrast, protoporphyrin was detected in both the eggshells of several avian species and in the shells of all mollusks. These findings support previous hypotheses about the ubiquitous deposition of tetrapyrroles in the eggshells of various bird lineages and provide evidence for its presence also across distantly related animal taxa.
- MeSH
- barva * MeSH
- biliverdin analýza MeSH
- biologické pigmenty analýza MeSH
- hmotnostní spektrometrie MeSH
- měkkýši fyziologie MeSH
- pigmentace MeSH
- protoporfyriny analýza MeSH
- ptáci fyziologie MeSH
- vaječná skořápka chemie MeSH
- vysokoúčinná kapalinová chromatografie MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Check Tag
- zvířata MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. MeSH
Avian eggshells are variable in appearance, including coloration. Here, we demonstrate that Raman spectroscopy can provide accurate diagnostic information about major eggshell constituents, including the pigments biliverdin and protoporphyrin IX. Eggshells pigmented with biliverdin showed a series of pigment-diagnostic Raman peaks under 785 nm excitation. Eggshells pigmented with protoporphyrin IX showed strong emission under 1064 nm and 785 nm excitation, whereas resonance Raman spectra (351 nm excitation) showed a set of protoporphyrin IX informative peaks characteristic of protoporphyrin IX. As representative examples, we identified biliverdin in the olive green eggshells of elegant crested tinamous (Eudromia elegans) and in the blue eggshells of extinct upland moa (Megalapteryx didinus). This study encourages the wider use of Raman spectroscopy in pigment and coloration research and highlights the value of this technique for non-destructive analyses of museum eggshell specimens.
- MeSH
- barva MeSH
- biliverdin analýza MeSH
- biologické pigmenty analýza MeSH
- protoporfyriny analýza MeSH
- ptáci * MeSH
- Ramanova spektroskopie MeSH
- vaječná skořápka chemie MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Check Tag
- zvířata MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
Complexation of bilirubin (BR) and biliverdin (BV) with biogenic and toxic metals (Mn, Cu, Cd, Co, Fe, Ni, Zn, and Ag) has been studied by means of electronic circular dichroism (ECD) and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD). Poly-L-lysine and beta-cyclodextrin in water were chosen as matrices capable of recognizing the single stereoconformer of the pigments with defined M-helicity. Such systems allow structural changes caused by complexation of pigments with metals in aqueous solution at pH 10-11 to be followed using chiroptical methods, which are intrinsically sensitive to spatial structure. These and other spectroscopic techniques have revealed that BV and BR form monomeric complexes with Cd, Cu, and Zn and dimeric complexes with Mn. The stabilities of the complexes with Fe, Ni, Co, and Ag are remarkably lower. The sign of the ECD and VCD patterns of the complexed BV does not change for the chelates of any of the studied metals other than Zn, this exception being interpreted in terms of manifestation of the opposite helicity of BV in its chelate with Zn. In the case of BR, the observed inversion of ECD signal after complexation, together with the analysis of VCD spectra, reveals that a flattening of the molecule takes place, i.e., an increase in the angle between the pyrrinone chromophores without an inversion of helicity. This chiral stereoselectivity, which is very specific in the case of the Zn chelates, is discussed in connection with the specific inhibition of Zn-required enzymes by bile pigments.
