Department of Dermatology and Biological Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA.
Pigment Cell Melanoma Res. 2011 Aug;24(4):595-604. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-148X.2011.00889.x. Epub 2011 Aug 10.
Melanin pigments protect the skin and eyes from toxic insults and are critical for the normal functioning of multiple organ systems including the skin, eyes, and brain. Biochemical and genetic studies in both human and mice have revealed the molecular machinery controlling the transcription of genes encoding enzymes that produce melanin and the trafficking of these enzymes to the melanosome, a lysosome-related organelle dedicated to melanin synthesis. Recent functional genomic studies have identified a role for genes previously known to regulate autophagy, a cellular process that facilitates nutrient recycling during starvation, in the biogenesis of melanosomes in vitro and in vivo. In this review, we describe the pleiotropic roles of autophagy regulators in multiple vesicle trafficking processes, define a specific role for autophagy regulators in melanosome biogenesis, and shed light on how autophagy and autophagy regulators may play different roles in both the biogenesis of melanosomes and melanosome destruction.
黑色素颜料可保护皮肤和眼睛免受毒性侵害，对于包括皮肤、眼睛和大脑在内的多个器官系统的正常功能至关重要。在人类和小鼠中的生化和遗传学研究揭示了控制基因转录的分子机制，这些基因编码产生黑色素的酶，以及这些酶向黑素体（一种专门用于黑色素合成的溶酶体相关细胞器）的运输。最近的功能基因组研究已经确定了先前已知调节自噬的基因的作用，自噬是一种在饥饿期间促进营养物质回收的细胞过程，它在体外和体内的黑素体生物发生中起作用。在这篇综述中，我们描述了自噬调节剂在多种囊泡运输过程中的多效作用，定义了自噬调节剂在黑素体生物发生中的特定作用，并阐明了自噬和自噬调节剂在黑素体的生物发生和黑素体破坏中可能发挥不同作用的机制。
