Nature's Palette: Characterization of Shared Pigments in Colorful Avian and Mollusk Shells.

ABSTRACT: 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 pigme

SUBMITTER: Verdes A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4674117 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature