**6. Conclusions**

Melanin has played a function in stress responses in biological organisms long before humans took notice of it, and the scientific community has yet to discover many important properties of microbial melanin, including its structural characterization and large-scale extraction. The unique properties fungal melanin exhibits in nature can be applied to human use, and such applications are numerous and imminent. However, the scientific community must also focus on confronting the challenges associated with adopting fungal melanin by identifying or creating non-pathogenic melanotic species, refining methods of isolating cultures, and improving methods of melanin extraction. The potential for microbial melanin's use to improve human health, environments, and industries further emphasizes the importance of further study into these pigments from multiple fields of interest.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, E.R.M. and R.J.B.C.; writing—original draft preparation, E.R.M. and R.J.B.C.; writing—review and editing, A.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Conflicts of Interest:** Radames J.B. Cordero and Arturo Casadevall have a business interest in MelaTech, LLC, a biotech company that may be affected by the content presented in this article. MelaTech, LLC had no role in the article.
