Autophagy as a melanocytic self-defense mechanism.

Defects in autophagy have implications for melanocyte survival and manifestations of skin pigmentary disorders. Zhang et al. (2015) show that mouse melanocytes lacking the autophagy protein Atg7 undergo premature senescence in vitro and accumulate products of oxidative damage, despite activation of the redox response. Interestingly, contrary to previous findings, the melanocyte-specific deficiency in autophagy did not cause major defects in melanosome biogenesis, nor did it produce visually striking changes in mouse coat color.