Melanin is effective in protecting fast and slow growing fungi from various types of ionizing radiation

Summary Melanin is a ubiquitous pigment with unique physicochemical properties. The resistance of melanized fungi to cosmic and terrestrial ionizing radiation suggests that melanin also plays a pivotal role in radioprotection. In this study, we compared the effects of densely‐ionizing deuterons and sparsely‐ionizing X‐rays on two microscopic fungi capable of melanogenesis. We utilized the fast‐growing pathogenic basiodiomycete forming an induced DOPA‐melanin, Cryptococcus neoformans (CN); and the slow‐growing environmental rock‐inhabiting ascomycete synthesizing a constitutive DHN‐melanin, Cryomyces antarcticus (CA); melanized and non‐melanized counterparts were compared. CA was more resistant to deuterons than CN, and similar resistance was observed for X‐rays. Melanin afforded protection against high‐dose (1.5 kGy) deuterons for both CN and CA (p‐values