Year: 2013
Type: editorial
Abstract: Regular readers of PCMR will readily recall the striking photographs that have decorated the journal's covers, and many will still remember the astonishing sea horse that greeted us all in February 2010. Our field is blessed by the naturally photogenic nature of much of the material that we study, but the gallery of elegant beasts that welcome you to the contents of PCMR neatly illustrates the fact that many organisms can inform our scientific endeavours, as well as delight our aesthetic side. The evolutionary conservation of pigment cells allows us to explore far beyond the human and mouse systems. There is no doubt that human pigmentation and mouse models will form the core of this journal's content, but we recognize the enormous potential of looking beyond those systems to see what other creatures may reveal. Studying melanocyte biology in non-model mammals using modern sequencing techniques to bypass the lack of classical genetics is already beginning to reveal the long-sought basis for striped and spotted pigment patterns. And melanocyte evolution, and even the origins of the neural crest itself, is another topic that is certainly best studied by imaginative investigation of distant creatures – in this case, by manipulation of invertebrate chordates, such as sea squirts. Yet even more exciting is the insight that other genetic model organisms can provide, and here the zebra fish and medaka systems are now established as a powerful complement to the genetic dominance of the mouse system. Long famed for the superb transparency of their embryos, allowing culture dish clarity of in vivo observation of pigment cells, the genomic resources and, especially, the growing range of methods for genetic manipulation of fish are truly revolutionizing their investigation. Transgenic labelling of neural crest cells and pigment cells (of up to four types!) and targeted genetic disruption using ZFNs and, most promisingly, TALENs, allow focus on our favourite cell types, whilst still within the intact natural niche of the living organism. Transgenesis techniques allow the overexpression of oncogenes to be readily targeted to melanocytes to examine their roles; these tools will achieve their full potential as the similarities (as well as inevitable differences) of piscine and mammalian tumours become better understood. Chemical biology, essentially a modern term for exploration of the effects of drug treatment, is an area in which the zebra fish excels. Embryos are small enough that 96-well plates are readily utilized, with compounds, complete with the medicinal chemist's beloved DMSO to aid solubility and embryo penetration, simply added to the medium bathing the embryo; screens of thousands or even tens of thousands of compounds can be performed with some ease. Combined with developmental genetics or with transgenic cancer models, there is a potential here that may well be revolutionary. At PCMR, we are keen to showcase the contribution that these fish and other models can provide and to encourage the submission of papers that combine these and other tools to show fundamental aspects of pigment cell and melanoma biology or that provide new insight into methods for translational impact on pigment cell disease. Readers, please rest assured that the covers of PCMR will still delight, but also look forward to the intellectual excitement to be provided by conventional and unconventional models alike inside them.
Source: Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research
DOI: 10.1111/pcmr.12102
Language: English
Subfield: Cell Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W1976109466