Virtual issue on Development

Click here to see the most recent articles published on Development

Preface by Colin Goding

Pigment cell development represents one of the most important model systems for understanding how a specific lineage is generated and how migration, cell division, survival and cell shape are co-ordinated with differentiation. Understanding the developmental origins of pigment cells and the network of transcription factors and signal transduction pathways that underpins the process represents one of the major goals in the field.
 
For the neural crest melanocytes, the advent of new techniques including and the ability to target neural crest cells specifically with retroviruses, and to culture the neural crest in vitro, together with the availability of mouse strains expressing GFP tagged factors in the melanocyte linage promises to deliver rapid advances in our understanding of the origins and destinies of these cells. The availability of increasingly important other animal systems, especially the fish models, and the power of fish genetics is also likely to reveal a plethora of additional factors beyond the 130 or so genetic loci identified to date as being important for pigment cell development or function.
 
Importantly, melanocytes also have their stem cells. The identification of these cells has raised many questions concerning how the decision is made to become a stem cell and how stem cell division may be co-ordinated with the cell cycle and lead to self-renewal as well as the generation of a population of amplifying progeny ultimately destined to differentiate. It is likely that melanocyte stem cells will become a major focus of interest for many labs and act as a wonderful model system for stem cells in general.
 
The genesis of the RPE also represents a nice contrast with the dispersed population of neural crest melanocytes, and new insights may be gained into the how the delicate balance between RPE and the neuroretina is achieved that no doubt will provide important lessons relevant to all aspects of tissue generation. Again technical advances in embryonic culture and the availability of mice expressing melanocyte-specific CRE will no doubt increase the range of questions that may be answered both in the RPE and in the pigment cell population as a whole.
 
Finally, there is significant similarity between the mechanisms operating in melanocyte development and those that function to yield a melanoma. Understanding the one should inform the other and it is critical that both research communities should interact closely.
 
The aim of this virtual issue is to bring together in one readily accessible place the papers and reviews published on pigment cell development.  The number of reports found here will expand with time and together make a substantial contribution to our understanding of this fascinating cell type.

Recent Articles Published on Development

2008

Melanocyte-lineage expression of Cre recombinase using Mitf regulatory elements
Azita Alizadeh, Karen R. Fitch, Colleen M. Niswender, G. Stanley McKnight and Gregory S. Barsh
February 2008

Both Notch1 and Notch2 contribute to the regulation of melanocyte homeostasis
Keiki Kumano, Shigeo Masuda, Masataka Sata, Toshiki Saito, Suk-young Lee, Mamiko Sakata-Yanagimoto, Taisuke Tomita, Takeshi Iwatsubo, Hideaki Natsugari, Mineo Kurokawa, Seishi Ogawa and Shigeru Chiba
February 2008

2007

The tyrosinase enhancer is activated by Sox10 and Mitf in mouse melanocytes
Fabien Murisier, Sabrina Guichard and Friedrich Beermann
June 2007

Evolutionary sequence comparison of the Mitf gene reveals novel conserved domains
Jón Hallsteinn Hallsson, Benedikta S. Haflidadóttir, Alexander Schepsky, Heinz Arnheiter and Eiríkur Steingrímsson
June 2007

Informatic and genomic analysis of melanocyte cDNA libraries as a resource for the study of melanocyte development and function
Laura L. Baxter, Benjamin J. Hsu, Lowell Umayam, Tyra G. Wolfsberg, Denise M. Larson, Martin C. Frith, Jun Kawai, Yoshihide Hayashizaki, Piero Carninci and William J. Pavan
June 2007

A mouse model of Waardenburg syndrome type IV resulting from an ENU-induced mutation in endothelin 3
Ivana Matera, Jody L. Cockroft, Jennifer L. Moran, David R. Beier, Dan Goldowitz and William J. Pavan
June 2007

2006

The other pigment cell: specification and development of the pigmented epithelium of the vertebrate eye
Kapil Bharti, Minh-Thanh T. Nguyen, Susan Skuntz, Stefano Bertuzzi, Heinz Arnheiter
October 2006

Induction of melanocytes from embryonic stem cells and their therapeutic potential
Tsutomu Motohashi, Hitomi Aoki, Naoko Yoshimura, Takahiro Kunisada
August 2006

2005

Pigment pattern formation in the medaka embryo
M. Lynn Lamoreux, Robert N. Kelsh, Yuko Wakamatsu and Kenjiro Ozato
April 2005

Secrets to a healthy Sox life: lessons for melanocytes
Michael Wegner
April 2005

Comparative study of eye defective worm ' menashi ' and regenerating wild-type in planarian, Dugesia ryukyuensis
Yukiko Sato, Kazuya Kobayashi, Midori Matsumoto, Motonori Hoshi and Sumiko Negishi
April 2005

WNT1 and WNT3a promote expansion of melanocytes through distinct modes of action
Karen Joyce Dunn, Matthew Brady, Christina Ochsenbauer-Jambor, Sara Snyder, Arturo Incao and William J. Pavan
June 2005

Ednrb2 orients cell migration towards the dorsolateral neural crest pathway and promotes melanocyte differentiation
Patrick Pla, Christophe Alberti, Olga Solov'eva, Manijeh Pasdar, Takahiro Kunisada and Lionel Larue
June 2005

Establishment of a Kit-negative cell line of melanocyte precursors from mouse neural crest cells
Yoko Kawa, Yoshinao Soma, Masayuki Nakamura, Masaru Ito, Tamihiro Kawakami, Takako Baba, Kuniko Sibahara, Kayoko Ohsumi, Shiho Ooka, Hidenori Watabe, Hirotake Ono, Eri Hosaka, Satoko Kimura, Tsuneto Kushimoto and Masako Mizoguchi
June 2005

Novel expression patterns of Pax3/Pax7 in early trunk neural crest and its melanocyte and non-melanocyte lineages in amniote embryos
Ana M a Lacosta, Pedro Muniesa, Jesús Ruberte, Manuel Sarasa and Luis Domínguez
August 2005

Melanocytes in conditional Rb–/– mice are normal in vivo but exhibit proliferation and pigmentation defects in vitro
Ian D. Tonks, Elke Hacker, Nicole Irwin, H. Konrad Muller, Patricia Keith, Arne Mould, Anna Zournazi, Sandra Pavey, Nicholas K. Hayward, Graeme Walker and Graham F. Kay
August 2005

Sumoylation modulates transcriptional activity of MITF in a promoter-specific manner
Hideki Murakami and Heinz Arnheiter
August 2005

MITF and cell proliferation: the role of alternative splice forms
Keren Bismuth, Dragan Maric and Heinz Arnheiter
October 2005

Pax3 target gene recognition occurs through distinct modes that are differentially affected by disease-associated mutations
Gareth N. Corry and D. Alan Underhill
December 2005