ArticlePloS one2015
Tryptophan hydroxylase Is Required for Eye Melanogenesis in the Planarian Schmidtea mediterranea.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Single-cell transcriptomics and RNAi screening define a hierarchical program of planarian eye regeneration.Cell reports · 2026Article
- Reduced adult stem cell fate specification led to eye reduction in cave planarians.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Plasma Metabolomics Indicates Potential Biomarkers and Abnormal Metabolic Pathways in Female Melasma Patients.Annals of dermatology · 2024Article
- Physicochemical characterization of the brown pigment produced by Azospirillum brasilense HM053 using tryptophan as precursor.Brazilian journal of microbiology : [publication of the Brazilian Society for Microbiology] · 2024Article
- Roles of DNA Methylation in Color Alternation of Eastern Honey Bees (International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Feeding Asian honeybee queens with European honeybee royal jelly alters body color and expression of related coding and non-coding RNAs.Frontiers in physiology · 2023Article
- Protein Core Fucosylation Regulates Planarian Head RegenerationFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2021Article
- Tryptophan, a non-canonical melanin precursor: New L-tryptophan based melanin production by Rubrivivax benzoatilyticus JA2.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Multi-Behavioral Endpoint Testing of an 87-Chemical Compound Library in Freshwater Planarians.Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · 2019Article
- Coordination between binocular field and spontaneous self-motion specifies the efficiency of planarians' photo-response orientation behavior.Communications biology · 2018Article
- Go ahead, grow a head! A planarian's guide to anterior regeneration.Regeneration (Oxford, England) · 2016Review
- Light-induced depigmentation in planarians models the pathophysiology of acute porphyrias.eLife · 2016Article
- Planarian brain regeneration as a model system for developmental neurotoxicology.Regeneration (Oxford, England) · 2016Review
- A functional genomics screen identifies an Importin-α homolog as a regulator of stem cell function and tissue patterning during planarian regeneration.BMC genomics · 2015Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
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Abstract
Melanins are ubiquitous and biologically important pigments, yet the molecular mechanisms that regulate their synthesis and biochemical composition are not fully understood. Here we present a study that supports a role for serotonin in melanin synthesis in the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. We characterize the tryptophan hydroxylase (tph) gene, which encodes the rate-limiting enzyme in serotonin synthesis, and demonstrate by RNA interference that tph is essential for melanin production in the pigment cups of the planarian photoreceptors. We exploit this phenotype to investigate the biological function of pigment cups using a quantitative light-avoidance behavioral assay. Planarians lacking eye pigment remain phototactic, indicating that eye pigmentation is not essential for light avoidance in S. mediterranea, though it improves the efficiency of the photophobic response. Finally, we show that the eye pigmentation defect observed in tph knockdown animals can be rescued by injection of either the product of TPH, 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), or serotonin. Together, these results highlight a role for serotonin in melanogenesis, perhaps as a regulatory signal or as a pigment substrate. To our knowledge, this is the first example of this relationship to be reported outside of mammalian systems.
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