WHAT CONTROLS MELANOGENESIS

The pigments eumelanin and pheomelanin are the visually most striking products of specialized neural crest-derived cells (melanocytes), and provide color to both epidermis and hair shafts, While the intriguing and controversial biological functions of these multifaceted heteropol ymers will be discussed in a later feature, here it is explored how th eir generation (melanogenesis) is controlled, For decades, this has be en the object of much controversy, the salient features of which are d elineated in the following contributions.