Melanins represent a diverse collection of pigments with a variety of structures and functions. One class of melanin, eumelanin, is recognizable to most as the source of the dark black color found in cephalopod ink. Sepia officinalis is the most well-known and sought-after source of non-synthetic eumelanin, but its harvest is limited by the availability of cuttlefish, and its extraction from an animal source brings rise to ethical concerns. In recent years, these limitations have become more pressing as more applications for eumelanin are developed—particularly in medicine and electronics. This surge in interest in the applications of eumelanin has also fueled a rise in the interest of alternative, bio-catalyzed production methods. Many culinarily utilized fungi are ideal candidates in this production scheme, as there are examples of which have been shown to produce eumelanin, whose growth at large scales are well-understood, and can be cultivated on recaptured waste streams. However, much of the current research on fungal production of eumelanin focuses on pathogenic fungi and eumelanin's role in virulence. In this paper, we will review the potential for culinary fungi to produce eumelanin, evaluate the economic feasibility of current methods of fungal eumelanin production, and provide suggestions for new research areas that would be most impactful in the search for improved fungal eumelanin producers.

中文翻译：

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真菌作为真黑色素的商业来源：当前的理解和前景

黑色素代表具有多种结构和功能的多种色素。大多数人都认为一类黑色素，即真黑素，是头足类动物墨水中发现的深黑色的来源。乌贼是最著名和最受欢迎的非合成真黑素来源，但其收获受到墨鱼供应的限制，而且从动物源中提取会引起伦理问题。近年来，随着真黑素更多应用的开发，特别是在医学和电子领域，这些限制变得更加紧迫。人们对真黑素应用的兴趣激增也推动了人们对替代生物催化生产方法的兴趣的增加。许多烹饪用真菌都是该生产方案的理想候选者，因为有一些例子已证明它们可以产生真黑色素，其大规模生长已被充分了解，并且可以在回收的废物流中进行培养。然而，目前许多关于真菌产生真黑色素的研究都集中在致病真菌和真黑色素在毒力中的作用。在本文中，我们将回顾烹饪真菌生产真黑素的潜力，评估当前真菌真黑素生产方法的经济可行性，并为寻找改进的真菌真黑素生产者最有影响力的新研究领域提供建议。