The study, led by the Doñana Biological Station – CSIC, has been carried out with amphibian larvae. Results suggest that maintaining the machinery necessary to respond to environmental changes (phenotypic plasticity) is linked to oxidative stress.
Higher levels of oxidative stress may translate into deteriorated body condition, reduced fertility, and shorter lifespan, which could explain why the response of organisms to global change is limited.

Pheomelanin, the sulfurated form of melanin pigment, is known to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress-mediated cytotoxicity. Previous studies have shown a conversion of the benzothiazine moiety of pheomelanin to the benzothiazole moiety under heat or energetic radiation exposure, but it is unknown whether endogenous conditions can also produce this structural change.

Competitive environments promote high testosterone levels, oxidative stress and, consequently, impair cellular homeostasis. The regulation of genes involved in the synthesis of the pigment pheomelanin in melanocytes seems to help to maintain homeostasis against environmental oxidative stress. Here, social interactions in some zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata males were experimentally increased by keeping them in groups of six birds during feather growth, while others were kept alone, to test...

Telomere length is a marker of cellular senescence that relates to different components of individual fitness. Oxidative stress is often claimed as a main proximate factor contributing to telomere attrition, although the importance of this factor in vivo has recently been challenged.

Pigments determine the appearance of organisms. However, pigment production can be associated to physiological constraints as in the case of pheomelanin, the sulphurated form of melanin whose synthesis in melanocytes consumes cysteine and consequently reduces the availability of glutathione (GSH) to exert antioxidant protection. Pheomelanogenesis may thus increase the susceptibility to suffer chronic oxidative stress. The possibility that environmental lability in the expression of genes...