Induction of pigmentation in mouse fibroblasts by expression of human tyrosinase cdna (1989).

Content Provider	CiteSeerX
Author	Bouchard, Brigitte Fuller, Bryan B. Vijayasaradhi, Setaluri Alan Houghton, N.
Abstract	Cells of the melanocyte lineage are distinguished by their capacity to synthesize the pigment melanin. Production of melanin is primarily regulated by the enzyme tyrosinase (monophenol, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine: oxygen oxidoreductase, EC 1.14.18.1), and it is presumed that melanin synthesis can be regulated at a number of levels that control both the amount ofmelanin synthesized and the type of melanin produced. Melanin synthesis occurs principally in specialized organelles, the melanosomes. Thus, the synthesis of melanin is usually restricted to melanocytic cells that contain melanosomes. In this report, we describe isolation of a full-length cDNA clone encoding human tyrosinase by using a probe homologous to the Pmel 34 cDNA sequence described by Kwon et al. (1). We have transfected and expressed this new human tyrosinase cDNA clone in mouse fibroblasts, and have induced pigmentation in a cell type that does not normally synthesize melanin. Levels of tyrosinase activity in transfected fibroblasts were equivalent to tyrosinase levels in highly pigmented human melanoma cell lines. These tyrosinase-positive fibroblast cell lines demonstrate that melanin synthesis can take place in cells that do not have melanosomes and, therefore, provide
File Format	PDF
Publisher Date	1989-01-01
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Mouse Fibroblast Human Tyrosinase Cdna Melanin Synthesis Oxygen Oxidoreductase New Human Tyrosinase Cdna Clone Transfected Fibroblast Amount Ofmelanin Tyrosinase-positive Fibroblast Cell Line Melanocyte Lineage Human Melanoma Cell Line Human Tyrosinase Full-length Cdna Clone Cell Type Enzyme Tyrosinase Specialized Organelle Pigment Melanin Melanocytic Cell Cdna Sequence Tyrosinase Activity
Content Type	Text