Indian-origin researcher detects 135 new melanin genes responsible for pigmentation

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

pigmentation diseases. The skin, hair and eye colour of humans is determined by the light-absorbing pigment known as melanin. «By understanding what regulates melanin, we can help protect lighter-skinned people from melanoma, or skin cancer,» Vivek Bajpai, the lead research author, said.

«By targeting these new melanin genes, we could also develop melanin-modifying drugs for vitiligo and other pigmentation diseases,» he added. The researchers found 169 functionally diverse genes that impacted melanin production. Of those, 135 were not previously associated with pigmentation.

The article recently published in the 'Science' journal features research by Bajpai, an assistant professor in the School of Sustainable Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering at the University of Oklahoma, and collaborators from Stanford University. Melanin is produced within special structures called melanosomes, which are found inside melanin-producing pigment cells called melanocytes. Although all humans have the same number of melanocytes, the amount of melanin they produce differs and gives rise to the variation in human skin colour.

«To understand what actually causes different amounts of melanin to be produced, we used a technology called CRISPR-Cas9 to genetically engineer cells,» Bajpai said. «Using CRISPR, we systematically removed more than 20,000 genes from hundreds of millions of melanocytes and observed the impact on melanin production.» Bajpai developed a novel method to detect and quantify the melanin-producing activity of melanocytes. By passing light through the melanocytes, he could record if the light was either absorbed or scattered by the melanin inside.