UV-Protection Timer Controls Linkage between Stress and Pigmentation Skin Protection Systems.

ABSTRACT: Skin sun exposure induces two protection programs: stress responses and pigmentation, the former within minutes and the latter only hours afterward. Although serving the same physiological purpose, it is not known whether and how these programs are coordinated. Here, we report that UVB exposure every other day induces significantly more skin pigmentation than the higher frequency of daily exposure, without an associated increase in stress responses. Using mathematical modeling and empirical studies, we show that the melanocyte master regulator, MITF, serves to synchronize stress responses and pigmentation and, furthermore, functions as a UV-protection timer via damped oscillatory dynamics, thereby conferring a trade-off between the two programs. MITF oscillations are controlled by multiple

SUBMITTER: Malcov-Brog H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6224604 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature