{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,13]],"date-time":"2026-03-13T23:22:33Z","timestamp":1773444153512,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":69,"publisher":"The Royal Society","issue":"236","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,11]],"date-time":"2026-03-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773187200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,11]],"date-time":"2026-03-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773187200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100014440","name":"Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovaci\u00f3n y Universidades","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100014440","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100012818","name":"Comunidad de Madrid","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100012818","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100007480","name":"Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100007480","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Melanins are the most abundant skin chromophores. Before being transferred to the target tissues, melanins are synthesized in isolation within melanosomes in melanocytes. Some melanin fragments, however, may leak out of the melanosome. Extramelanosomal melanins interact with nuclear DNA and promote photochemical damage under UV exposure, while DNA\u2013melanin complexes are formed. However, it is unknown how these complexes affect DNA independently of UV, and whether RNA can also form complexes with melanins. Here, we show that DNA\u2013melanin and RNA\u2013melanin complexes are formed under physiological conditions and improve the integrity of the nucleic acids with a high dependency on the melanin form (eumelanin or pheomelanin) involved. After inducing strand shear stress on complexes from chicken follicular melanocytes and comparing them with nucleic acids not bound to melanins, we found that eumelanin protects DNA from strand breaks, while pheomelanin protects RNA. Eumelanin also protects DNA from oxidative damage as revealed by a reduced formation of 8-hydroxy-2\u2032-deoxyguanosine, and both eumelanin and pheomelanin protect RNA from oxidative damage. We provide unprecedented evidence of coexistence of DNA\u2013 and RNA\u2013melanin complexes and resolve the long-discussed nature of the interaction as significantly protective. This helps in understanding pigmentation-related diseases and the synthesis of more resistant nucleic acid vectors.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1098\/rsif.2025.1111","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,12]],"date-time":"2026-03-12T21:50:08Z","timestamp":1773352208000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Melanin pigments protect nucleic acid integrity"],"prefix":"10.1098","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6523-8592","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ismael","family":"Galv\u00e1n","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"National Museum of Natural Sciences, CSIC 1 , ,","place":["Madrid, Spain"],"department":["Department of Evolutionary Ecology"]}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7540-9415","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jeniffer","family":"Mart\u00ednez-Gonz\u00e1lez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Castilla-La Mancha 2 , ,","place":["Ciudad Real, Spain"],"department":["Department of Analytical Chemistry and Food Technology, Faculty of Chemical Sciences and Technologies"]}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-7043-6579","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Julene","family":"G\u00f3mez-Vicioso","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Museum of Natural Sciences, CSIC 1 , ,","place":["Madrid, Spain"],"department":["Department of Evolutionary Ecology"]}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-6519-5245","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marina","family":"Garc\u00eda-Guerra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Museum of Natural Sciences, CSIC 1 , ,","place":["Madrid, Spain"],"department":["Department of Evolutionary Ecology"]}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4867-6443","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Olga","family":"Torres","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA-CSIC) 3 , ,","place":["Madrid, Spain"],"department":["Department of Animal Genetic Improvement"]}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6395-0172","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mohammed","family":"Zougagh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Castilla-La Mancha 4 , ,","place":["Albacete, Spain"],"department":["Department of Analytical Chemistry and Food Technology"]},{"name":"University of Castilla-La Mancha 5 , ,","place":["Ciudad Real, Spain"],"department":["Regional Institute for Applied Scientific Research (IRICA)"]}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1728-3097","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"\u00c1ngel","family":"R\u00edos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Castilla-La Mancha 2 , ,","place":["Ciudad Real, Spain"],"department":["Department of Analytical Chemistry and Food Technology, Faculty of Chemical Sciences and Technologies"]},{"name":"University of Castilla-La Mancha 5 , ,","place":["Ciudad Real, Spain"],"department":["Regional Institute for Applied Scientific Research (IRICA)"]}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9612-761X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francisco","family":"Solano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Murcia 6 , ,","place":["Murcia, Spain"],"department":["Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology B and Immunology"]}]}],"member":"175","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026031317525274200_R1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"843","DOI":"10.1038\/nature05660","article-title":"Melanocyte biology and skin pigmentation","volume":"445","author":"Lin","year":"2007","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"2026031317525274200_R2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"539","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1751-1097.2007.00226.x","article-title":"The protective role of melanin against UV damage in human skin","volume":"84","author":"Brenner","year":"2008","journal-title":"Photochem. Photobiol."},{"key":"2026031317525274200_R3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"480","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1751-1097.1997.tb08594.x","article-title":"Induced melanin reduces mutations and cell killing in mouse melanoma","volume":"65","author":"Li","year":"1997","journal-title":"Photochem. Photobiol."},{"key":"2026031317525274200_R4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5395","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.75.11.5395","article-title":"Photodestruction of pheomelanin: role of oxygen","volume":"75","author":"Chedekel","year":"1978","journal-title":"Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"2026031317525274200_R5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"321","DOI":"10.1007\/s00203-010-0560-1","article-title":"Bacterial melanin interacts with double-stranded DNA with high affinity and may inhibit cell metabolism in vivo","volume":"192","author":"Geng","year":"2010","journal-title":"Arch. Microbiol."},{"key":"2026031317525274200_R6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"119","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jim.2006.04.003","article-title":"An improved method for RNA isolation and removal of melanin contamination from melanoma tissue: implications for tumor antigen detection and amplification","volume":"313","author":"D\u00f6rrie","year":"2006","journal-title":"J. Immunol. Methods"},{"key":"2026031317525274200_R7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"842","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1256022","article-title":"Chemiexcitation of melanin derivatives induces DNA photoproducts long after UV exposure","volume":"347","author":"Premi","year":"2015","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"2026031317525274200_R8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"153","DOI":"10.1016\/j.freeradbiomed.2018.07.019","article-title":"UVA-induced carbon-centred radicals in lightly pigmented cells detected using ESR spectroscopy","volume":"126","author":"Kassouf","year":"2018","journal-title":"Free Radic. Biol. Med."},{"key":"2026031317525274200_R9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"343","DOI":"10.1002\/9783527636150.ch12","volume-title":"Melanins and melanosomes biosynthesis, biogenesis, physiological, and pathological functions","author":"Borovansk\u00fd","year":"2011"},{"key":"2026031317525274200_R10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"678","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1523-1747.1998.00357.x","article-title":"(Pheo)melanin photosensitizes UVA-induced DNA damage in cultured human melanocytes","volume":"111","author":"Wenczl","year":"1998","journal-title":"J. Investig. Dermatol."},{"key":"2026031317525274200_R11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"209","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1523-1747.1999.00653.x","article-title":"The role of melanin in the induction of oxidative DNA base damage by ultraviolet A irradiation of DNA or melanoma cells","volume":"113","author":"Kvam","year":"1999","journal-title":"J. Investig. 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