Definition of "melanin" []

• Any of a group of naturally occurring dark pigments, especially the pigment found in skin, hair, fur, and feathers. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "What determines how much melanin is present in the iris ishereditary genetics."
• "Though melanin is typically associated with ‘protective’ properties – absorbing and safely transforming different electromagnetic wavelengths, such as DNA-damaging ultraviolet light – the researchers had an inkling that a more extraordinary phenomenon was allowing the fungi to prosper; something still involving the combination of melanin and radiation, but beyond the bounds of radioactive protection."
• "If you change a gene involved in melanin synthesis only expressed in the hair, you can change the hair color with no fuss."