A method quantifying soil melanin to understand fungal impacts on soil carbon stability
Abstract
Fungal necromass, particularly dead microbial cells rich in melanin, is an important contributor to long-term soil carbon stabilization. Progress in understanding the role of soil melanin is limited by the lack of validated analytical methods. DNA-based approaches estimate only the genetic potential for melanin production and therefore provide indirect evidence of melanin occurrence. To directly assess soil melanin, we evaluated spectroscopic and spectrophotometric assays; however, both approaches proved insufficiently specific due to interference from chemically related compounds. Here, we introduce a liquid chromatography method that enables quantification of major fungal melanin types in soils. By enabling direct quantification of fungal melanin in soil, this framework allows longstanding hypotheses regarding melanized fungal necromass and soil carbon stabilization to be tested mechanistically. Here, we show with the proposed method that soil melanin concentrations are strongly correlated with total soil carbon, supporting a central role for fungal melanin in long-term soil carbon stabilization.
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BibTeX
@article{adamczyk2026method,
title = {{A method quantifying soil melanin to understand fungal impacts on soil carbon stability}},
author = {Sylwia Adamczyk and Bartosz Adamczyk},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-78616-4},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78616-4},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A method quantifying soil melanin to understand fungal impacts on soil carbon stability
AU - Sylwia Adamczyk
AU - Bartosz Adamczyk
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/11
JO - Nature Communications
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-78616-4
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78616-4
AB - Fungal necromass, particularly dead microbial cells rich in melanin, is an important contributor to long-term soil carbon stabilization. Progress in understanding the role of soil melanin is limited by the lack of validated analytical methods. DNA-based approaches estimate only the genetic potential for melanin production and therefore provide indirect evidence of melanin occurrence. To directly assess soil melanin, we evaluated spectroscopic and spectrophotometric assays; however, both approaches proved insufficiently specific due to interference from chemically related compounds. Here, we introduce a liquid chromatography method that enables quantification of major fungal melanin types in soils. By enabling direct quantification of fungal melanin in soil, this framework allows longstanding hypotheses regarding melanized fungal necromass and soil carbon stabilization to be tested mechanistically. Here, we show with the proposed method that soil melanin concentrations are strongly correlated with total soil carbon, supporting a central role for fungal melanin in long-term soil carbon stabilization.
SN - 2041-1723
ER -