Turacin Explained

Turacin is a naturally occurring red pigment that is 6% copper complexed to uroporphyrin III. Arthur Herbert Church discovered turacin in 1869.^[1]

It is found only in the bird family Musophagidae, the turacos.^[2] Other birds derive their red coloration from carotenoids (bright and orange-reds) or phaeomelanins (rusty and brownish-reds).

It is often assumed that this coloration will wash out when the birds are bathing or after heavy rains, but this is true only if the water used for bathing happens to be very alkaline.

The copper(II) uroporphyrin III pigment in turaco feathers was studied using electron spin resonance by Jack Peisach first with Blumberg^[3] and later with Mims.^[4]

See also

• Psittacofulvin, a brightly colored red and yellow pigment unique to parrots
• Turacoverdin, green pigment unique to turacos

Notes and References

1. 109012. 627–636. Church. A. H.. Researches on Turacin, an Animal Pigment Containing Copper. 159. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 1869. 10.1098/rstl.1869.0024. free.
2. http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/omd?turacin Online Medical Dictionary
3. Blumberg . W.E. . Peisach . J. . An Electron Spin Resonance Study of Copper Uroporphyrin III and Other Touraco Feather Components . Journal of Biological Chemistry . February 1965 . 240 . 2 . 870–876 . 10.1016/S0021-9258(17)45255-0 . free . 14275147 .
4. Peisach . J. . Mims . W.B. . The Linear Electric Field Effect in Stellacyanin, Azurin and in Some Simple Model Compounds . European Journal of Biochemistry . March 1978 . 84 . 1 . 207-214 . 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1978.tb12158.x . free .