MSX1-induced neural crest-like phenotype in human melanocytes

Msh homeobox 1 (MSX1) is a transcription factor implicated in neural crest specification. Ectopic expression of MSX1 reprograms mature melanocytes into a neural crest-like state as a single factor. MSX1-reprogrammed melanocytes lose pigmentation and become multipotent. To identify immediate targets of MSX1, we generated a tetracycline-inducible system (Tet-ON) in order to express MSX1 in primary melanocytes (iMSX1) in a clean and rapid way starting at defined time points and perform a global gene expression analysis. The analysis was done in melanocytes derived from two different donors. iMsx1-expressing melanocytes before (0 h) and after short-term induction of MSX1 (6 h)