The tyrosinase gene family and albinism in fish

• Published in: Chinese journal of oceanology and limnology Vol. 25; no. 2; pp. 191 - 198
• Main Author: 王家庆 侯林 张瑞锋 赵欣涛 姜丽娟 孙文静 安家璐 李晓燕
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Nature B.V 01.04.2007; College of Life Science,Liaoning Normal University,Dalian 116029,China
• Subjects: Albinism; Biosynthesis; Cell differentiation; Cell migration; Colour; Dopachrome isomerase; Embryogenesis; Embryonic growth stage; Fish; Genes; Melanin; Melanocytes; Migrations; Molecular evolution; Molecular structure; Neural crest; Pigments; Pisces; Protein structure; Proteins; Transcription; Tyrosinase; Tyrosinase gene; Vertebrates; 基因家族; 白化病; 酪氨酸酶; tyrosinase gene family; transgene; molecular evolution; albinism; fish
• ISSN: 0254-4059; 2096-5508; 1993-5005; 2523-3521
• DOI: 10.1007/s00343-007-0191-9

Tyrosinase exists universally in organisms and is a characteristic enzyme of melanocytes. Tyrosinase family genes in vertebrates consist of 3 related members; tyrosinase （TYR, Tyr）, tyro sinase-related protein-1 （TRP-1, Tyrp 1）, and tyro sinase-related protein-2 （TRP-2, Tyrp2, Dct）. These proteins catalyze melanin biosynthesis in pigment cells and play important roles in determining vertebrate coloration. Transcription of the TYR and TRP genes is useful for studying neural crest and optic vesicle cell migration and differentiation during emblyogenesis and important in pigment rescue in fish. In this paper, the structure of gene and protein molecular evolution, function and roles of the TYR family in fish were reviewed.