Melanin pigment plays a critical role in the protection against the harmful effects of ultraviolet
radiation and other environmental stressors. It is produced by the enzymatic transformation …

Background Over the past 20 years, insights from human and mouse genetics have
illuminated the central role of the brain leptin-melanocortin pathway in the control of …

Cutaneous melanin pigment plays a critical role in camouflage, mimicry, social
communication, and protection against harmful effects of solar radiation. Melanogenesis is …

The melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) is a melanocytic Gs protein coupled receptor that
regulates skin pigmentation, UV responses, and melanoma risk. It is a highly polymorphic …

Adaptive evolution in new or changing environments can be difficult to predict because the
functional connections between genotype, phenotype, and fitness are complex. Here, we …

The melanocortin system consists of melanocortin peptides derived from the
proopiomelanocortin gene, five melanocortin receptors, two endogenous antagonists, and …

Human skin pigmentation shows a strong positive correlation with ultraviolet radiation
intensity, suggesting that variation in skin color is, at least partially, due to adaptation via …

The melanocortin peptides derived from pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) were originally
understood in terms of the biological actions of α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) …

Melanosomes are the specialized intracellular organelles of pigment cells devoted to the
synthesis, storage and transport of melanin pigments, which are responsible for most visible …

Human pigmentation is a polygenic quantitative trait with high heritability. Although a large
number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been identified in pigmentation …