The beige and Chediak-Higashi syndrome (BEACH)-domain containing proteins constitute a new family of proteins found in all eukaryotes. The function of these proteins, which include the Chediak-Higashi syndrome (CHS) protein, Neurobeachin, LvsA, and FAN, is still poorly understood. To understand the diversity of this novel protein family, we analyzed a large array of BEACH-family protein sequenc...

The beige mouse is an animal model for the human Chediak-Higashi syndrome, a disease characterized by giant lysosomes in most cell types. In mice, treatment with androgenic hormones causes a 20-50-fold elevation in at least one kidney lysosomal enzyme, beta-glucuronidase. Beige mice treated with androgen had significantly higher kidney beta-glucuronidase, beta-galactosidase, and N-acetyl-beta-D...