Albinism is due to a lack of pigmentation in hair, skin and eye, and has been shown to occur in several animal species. Mutations of the tyrosinase (TYR) gene account for albinism in domestic cats, rabbits, cattle, mice and rats. In this study, we demonstrate that a TYR mutation accounts for albinism in the ferret (Mustela putorius furo). The coding sequence of the five exons of TYR was determi...

Albinism is an inherited abnormality of melanin synthesis with incidence of one per 20,000 births. Its clinical manifestations are related to the reduction or absence of pigmentation in the visual system and/or the skin and teguments. The clinical spectrum of Oculocutaneous Albinism (OCA) has four types ranging from OCA 1 - 4, of which OCA 1, A-1 is the most severe form. Partial cutaneous albin...

A survey of 1.3 million schoolchildren in Zimbabwe identified a total of 278 pupils with oculocutaneous albinism (OCA), giving a prevalence of 1 in 4728. Pupils with OCA were identified in every province of the country, but the distribution was not even. In certain areas, notably the capital, Harare, and the eastern province of Manicaland, the frequency was significantly higher than in others. ...

Hypopigmentation disorders that are associated with immunodeficiency feature both partial albinism of hair, skin and eyes together with leukocyte defects. These disorders include Chediak Higashi (CHS), Griscelli (GS), Hermansky-Pudlak (HPS) and MAPBP-interacting protein deficiency syndromes. These are heterogeneous autosomal recessive conditions in which the causal genes encode proteins with sp...

Homozygosity for a large deletion in the solute carrier family 45, member 2 (SLC45A2) gene causes oculocutaneous albinism (OCA) in the Doberman Pinscher breed. An albino Lhasa Apso did not have this g.27141_31223del (CanFam2) deletion in her SLC45A2 sequence. Therefore, SLC45A2 was investigated in this female Lhasa Apso to search for other possible variants that caused her albinism. The albino ...

PURPOSE Esotropia is a feature of albinism. Amongst esotropic patients there may be mild unrecognised albinos. Oculocutaneous albinism shares several clinical features with congenital esotropia. It is well known that mammals with oculocutaneous albinism have misrouted retinal ganglion cell axons, most likely caused by the absence of melanin or DOPA during development. We investigated the hypoth...