Melanoregulin is stably targeted to the melanosome membrane by palmitoylation.

ABSTRACT: In mammals, pigments are made by melanocytes within a specialized organelle, the melanosome. Mature, pigment-laden melanosomes are then transferred to keratinocytes to drive the visible pigmentation of the animal's hair and skin. The dilute suppressor (dsu) locus encodes an extragenic suppressor of the pigmentation defect exhibited by mice lacking myosin Va (i.e. dilute mice). We recently showed that melanoregulin, the product of the dsu locus, functions as a negative regulator of a shedding mechanism that drives the intercellular transfer of melanosomes from the melanocyte to the keratinocyte. Here we address melanoregulin's localization within the melanocyte, as well as the molecular basis for its localization. First, we confirm and extend recently published results using exogenous, GFP-

SUBMITTER: Wu XS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3456999 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature