Extraction and Purification of Melanin from Different Sources and Tissues

Abstract

Melanins are phenolic biopolymers synthesized by most of the living organism mainly for photoprotection or surviving in harsh conditions. Melanin is localized in different areas or complexed with different other biomolecules when observed from animals to microbes. This makes the melanin extraction procedure different in animal, plant and microbial tissues. Basically, the alkali- acid extraction is used in most protocols of which slight variations are there depending on the tissue used. This review will try to compile melanin extraction procedures from different cells and tissues ranging from animals to bacteria.