MITF-M Regulates Melanogenesis in Mouse Melanocytes

The microphthalamia-associated transcription factor (Mitf) gene was first found in descendants of an irradiated male mouse in the 1940s [1]. Using a transgenic insertional mutations at the Mitf locus, the Mitf gene was first cloned by Arnheiter and his colleagues in 1993 [2]. The Mitf gene is conserved in various vertebrate species, including human, rat, mouse, hamster, chicken and quail [3]. Mitf is known to be essential for melanin-bearing pigment cells across species and tissue types. It encodes basic-helix-loop-helix leucine zipper proteins, which are able to form DNA-binding heterodimers with highly homology-related factors.