MLANA

gene
On this page

Also known as MART1MART-1

Summary

MLANA (melan-A, HGNC:7124) is a protein-coding gene on chromosome 9p24.1, encoding Melanoma antigen recognized by T-cells 1 (Q16655). Involved in melanosome biogenesis by ensuring the stability of GPR143.

Located in endoplasmic reticulum membrane; melanosome; and trans-Golgi network.

Source: NCBI Gene 2315 — RefSeq curated summary.

At a glance

  • GWAS associations: 6
  • Clinical variants (ClinVar): 5 total — 1 pathogenic
  • MANE Select transcript: NM_005511

Identifiers

Gene identifiers

FieldValue
HGNC IDHGNC:7124
Approved symbolMLANA
Namemelan-A
Location9p24.1
Locus typegene with protein product
StatusApproved
AliasesMART1, MART-1
Ensembl geneENSG00000120215
Ensembl biotypeprotein_coding
OMIM605513
Entrez2315

Gene structure

Transcript identifiers

Ensembl transcripts: 5 — 3 protein_coding, 2 protein_coding_CDS_not_defined

ENST00000381471, ENST00000381476, ENST00000381477, ENST00000482341, ENST00000490518

RefSeq mRNA: 1 — MANE Select: NM_005511 NM_005511

CCDS: CCDS6466

Canonical transcript exons

ENST00000381477 — 5 exons

ExonStartEnd
ENSE0000092785859068855906998
ENSE0000148871059086405910606
ENSE0000148874158924505892551
ENSE0000148874458908895890936
ENSE0000355708558975575897653

Expression profiles

Bgee: expression breadth ubiquitous, 176 present calls, max score 94.67.

FANTOM5 (CAGE): breadth tissue_specific, TPM avg 53.4935 / max 10285.0940, expressed in 98 samples.

FANTOM5 promoters (5 alternative TSS)

Promoter IDTPM avgSamples expressed
9596653.208896
959690.121238
959670.103833
959680.053930
959700.00582

Top tissues by expression

291 total, by Bgee expression score (0-100, higher = more expressed):

TissueAnatomy IDExpression scoreQuality
upper leg skinUBERON:000426294.67gold quality
pigmented layer of retinaUBERON:000178286.30gold quality
skin of abdomenUBERON:000141683.61gold quality
skin of legUBERON:000151183.24gold quality
zone of skinUBERON:000001483.21gold quality
male germ line stem cell (sensu Vertebrata) in testisCL:0000089 ∩ UBERON:000047382.47gold quality
upper arm skinUBERON:000426381.48gold quality
primordial germ cell in gonadCL:0000670 ∩ UBERON:000099180.52gold quality
mammalian vulvaUBERON:000099779.19gold quality
skin of hipUBERON:000155477.93gold quality
penisUBERON:000098975.20gold quality
monocyteCL:000057672.97gold quality
mononuclear cellCL:000084272.52gold quality
leukocyteCL:000073872.25gold quality
adrenal tissueUBERON:001830371.92gold quality
calcaneal tendonUBERON:000370169.44gold quality
islet of LangerhansUBERON:000000669.05gold quality
granulocyteCL:000009467.01gold quality
nippleUBERON:000203066.34gold quality
rectumUBERON:000105265.98gold quality
gastrocnemiusUBERON:000138864.82gold quality
muscle of legUBERON:000138364.74gold quality
hindlimb stylopod muscleUBERON:000425264.00gold quality
gall bladderUBERON:000211063.94gold quality
right adrenal gland cortexUBERON:003582763.21gold quality
stromal cell of endometriumCL:000225562.85gold quality
minor salivary glandUBERON:000183062.75gold quality
right adrenal glandUBERON:000123362.17gold quality
mouth mucosaUBERON:000372961.99gold quality
left adrenal glandUBERON:000123461.67gold quality

Single-cell (SCXA)

Detected in 6 experiment(s), a significant marker in 5.

ExperimentMarker?Max mean expression
E-MTAB-7407yes5020.48
E-MTAB-8142yes3461.45
E-GEOD-135922yes2346.01
E-ANND-5yes682.12
E-ENAD-20no2051.47
E-ANND-3no0.00

Regulation

Is transcription factor: no

Upstream regulators (CollecTRI, top): LITAF, MITF

miRNA regulators (miRDB)

61 targeting MLANA, top 30 by miRDB confidence (max_score; target_count = how many genes the miRNA targets in total — lower means more specific):

miRNAMax scoreAvg scoremiRNA target_count
HSA-MIR-4795-3P100.0074.624024
HSA-MIR-3613-3P100.0076.367965
HSA-MIR-126-5P100.0072.713180
HSA-MIR-4776-3P100.0068.731340
HSA-MIR-371B-5P99.9975.344759
HSA-MIR-453499.9966.581907
HSA-MIR-373-5P99.9875.364753
HSA-MIR-616-5P99.9875.584775
HSA-MIR-808299.9567.271170
HSA-MIR-391099.9571.132227
HSA-MIR-141-3P99.9472.792421
HSA-MIR-200A-3P99.9472.682420
HSA-MIR-971899.9468.91918
HSA-MIR-539-5P99.9370.302855
HSA-MIR-338-5P99.9272.342951
HSA-MIR-129799.9173.413162
HSA-MIR-124-3P99.8973.743043
HSA-MIR-506-3P99.8973.553057
HSA-MIR-6780A-5P99.8866.692776
HSA-MIR-10395-5P99.8667.35676
HSA-MIR-383-3P99.8565.841359
HSA-MIR-4659A-3P99.8072.624248
HSA-MIR-4659B-3P99.8072.624248
HSA-MIR-26A-5P99.7873.522303
HSA-MIR-26B-5P99.7873.512305
HSA-MIR-34B-5P99.7867.561175
HSA-MIR-449C-5P99.7867.631168
HSA-MIR-498-5P99.7669.641807
HSA-MIR-442899.7366.411733
HSA-MIR-2682-5P99.7367.381055

Literature-anchored findings (GeneRIF, showing 40)

  • unexpected high frequency of T cells specific for the self-antigen Melan-A/MART-1 in CD8 single-positive thymocytes from human histocompatibility leukocyte antigen-A2 healthy individuals (PMID:11854361)
  • Melanosomes from an Achilles tendon clear-cell sarcoma showed expression of the Melan-A gene. (PMID:12072203)
  • The high frequency of Melan-A multimer(+) T cells can be explained by the existence of largely cross-reactive subsets of naive CD8(+) T cells displaying multiple specificities. (PMID:12119345)
  • dominant function of TCRAV2 segment in forming the TCR repertoire specific for the human self Ag Melan-A/MART-1 (PMID:12444131)
  • Data show that MITF appears to regulate the expression of the SILV and MLANA genes. (PMID:12819038)
  • Antigen-specific T lymphocyte reactivity to MelanA/MART-1 and tyrosinase peptides was not observed ex vivo in our vitiligo patients, and only one patient demonstrated responses to MelanA/MART-1 (PMID:12925214)
  • adrenocortical neoplasms showed strong and diffuse granular cytoplasmic staining for Melan A. No nuclear reaction was observed. (PMID:14663359)
  • the expression of Melan-A/MART-1 in patient-derived cell cultures may help to identify a group of melanoma patients with prolonged survival (PMID:15305155)
  • Melan-A is very useful in distinguishing between desmoplastic melanoma and sclerotic nevi. (PMID:15618925)
  • Data suggest that MART-1 is indispensable for Pmel17 function and thus plays an important role in regulating mammalian pigmentation. (PMID:15695812)
  • Two new Melan-A-derived CD4+ T cell epitopes have been identified that map to the 1-20 and 91-110 regions of the protein and are restricted by HLA-DR11 and HLA-DR52 molecules. (PMID:16814609)
  • Blocking MAPK signaling augments antigen levels, thereby enhancing Melan-A/MART-1-specific cytotoxic T-cell responses to antigen-negative cells following MEK inhibition treatment. (PMID:17050671)
  • Two novel Melan-A/MART-1-derived sequences recognized by CD4 T cells from melanoma patients provide the basis for monitoring of naturally occurring and vaccine-induced Melan-A/MART-1-specific CD4 T cell responses. (PMID:17082590)
  • HMB-45 and Melan-A combined were positive in 100% of the renal angiomyolipomas. (PMID:17227112)
  • Data show that the MAT-1 26-35 and 27-35 peptides adopt strikingly different conformations when bound to HLA-A2. (PMID:17719062)
  • t cell recaptor antigens and the major histocompatibilyt complex are complexed with this protein. (PMID:17768347)
  • the combinational characterization of calretinin (either by polyclonal or monoclonal antibody), inhibin alpha, and Melan-A expression is of great significance in the differential diagnosis of adrenocortical tumors. (PMID:18091323)
  • these data significantly enlarge the fraction of melanoma patients susceptible to benefit from a Melan-A/MART1 vaccine approach. (PMID:18097665)
  • Measurement of Melan-A, gp100, MAGE-3, MIA and tyrosinase represents a prognostic factor and a method for early detection of metastasis and treatment response of melanoma patients. (PMID:18181974)
  • Although melan-A-specific T cells were detectable, they are unlikely to be involved in the etiopathogenesis of vitiligo. (PMID:18337837)
  • Increased staining with Melan-A, in an actinic keratosis, or solar lentigo should raise the possibility of a contiguous melanoma in situ. (PMID:18494818)
  • results show a complex pattern of changes in the expression of Melan-A in melanomas depending on the location of melanoma cells within individual skin layers (PMID:18626310)
  • the generation of larger numbers of ELAGIGILTV ((MART-1 26-35, A27L)-specific CD8+ T cells correlates negatively with the acquisition of a CD45RA+CCR7- phenotype and cytotoxic capacity. (PMID:19050104)
  • T-cell receptor beta chain sequences of Melan-A-specific clonotypes obtained from melanoma patients were highly heterogeneous, but displayed a preferential usage of few TRBV and TRBJ segments. (PMID:19317896)
  • Case Report: Melan-a-positive “pseudomelanocytic nests”: a pitfall in the histopathologic and immunohistochemical diagnosis of pigmented lesions on sun-damaged skin. (PMID:19384076)
  • OA1 interacts with MART-1 at early stages of melanogenesis to control melanosome identity and composition. (PMID:19717472)
  • Melanocyte MART-1 may correlate to the autoimmune mechanism in children with vitiligo. (PMID:19861278)
  • determined the crystal structure of a phosphopeptide derived from melanoma antigen recognized by T cells-1 (pMART-1), selectively expressed by melanomas, in complex with HLA-DR1 (PMID:20417641)
  • Molecular upstaging of MART-1 using rt-pcr was correlated with prognosis in melanoma patients (PMID:21135695)
  • Translocation of the BCL2 gene on the chromosome band 18q21.3 and MYC translocation to 14q32/IGH or less commonly to 2p11/IGK in an identical cell is termed BCL2 and MYC dual-hit lymphoma/leukemia (PMID:21362015)
  • Both semiscale and fullscale quantitative analyses of Ki67/MART1 stains are valuable diagnostic tools to distinguish melanomas and nevi with a large degree of certainty. (PMID:21610457)
  • The differential expression of Mart-1 was investigated in four human uveal melanoma cells. (PMID:21667026)
  • we established several CD4 T-cell clones that recognized a peptide that is embedded within Melan-A/MART-121-50, in a HLA-DPB1*0501 restricted manner (PMID:21760531)
  • MART-1- and gp100-expressing and -non-expressing melanoma cells are equally proliferative in tumors and clonogenic in vitro. (PMID:21993558)
  • Aberrant expression of Melan-A and MART-1 in AFX and undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma of the skin represents an important diagnostic pitfall with potential for misdiagnosis as melanoma. (PMID:22050092)
  • The modified melan-A long peptides (not their wild-type counterparts) give rise to highly sustained cross-presentation capacity by monocyte-derived dendritic cells and could be used as tumor vaccines for treatment of melanoma patients. (PMID:22291187)
  • The presence of circulating T cells responding to Melan-A or NY-ESO-1 had strong independent prognostic impact on survival in advanced melanoma. (PMID:22529253)
  • Report diagnostic role of immunohistochemical staining for Melan-A in evaluating primary melanoma and, specifically, in situ melanoma cases. (PMID:22688397)
  • naturally occurring MART-1 melanoma antigen can be taken-up from dying melanoma cells into DC or MAK and both cell types can induce specific CD8(+) T cell cross-presentation thereafter. (PMID:22768350)
  • melan A (A103) is not expressed in mesotheliomas (PMID:22820661)

Cross-species orthologs

2 orthologs

OrganismSymbolGene ID
mus_musculusMlanaENSMUSG00000024806
rattus_norvegicusMlanaENSRNOG00000036608

Protein

Protein identifiers

Melanoma antigen recognized by T-cells 1Q16655 (reviewed: Q16655)

Alternative names: Antigen LB39-AA, Antigen SK29-AA, Protein Melan-A

All UniProt accessions (2): A0A384MR46, Q16655

UniProt curated annotations — full annotation on UniProt →

Function. Involved in melanosome biogenesis by ensuring the stability of GPR143. Plays a vital role in the expression, stability, trafficking, and processing of melanocyte protein PMEL, which is critical to the formation of stage II melanosomes.

Subunit / interactions. Interacts with PMEL. Interacts with GPR143.

Subcellular location. Endoplasmic reticulum membrane. Golgi apparatus. trans-Golgi network membrane. Melanosome.

Tissue specificity. Expression is restricted to melanoma and melanocyte cell lines and retina.

Post-translational modifications. Acylated.

RefSeq proteins (1): NP_005502* (*=MANE)

Domains & families (InterPro)

IDNameType
IPR029242MLANAFamily

Pfam: PF14991

UniProt features (6 total): chain 1, transmembrane region 1, topological domain 1, region of interest 1, modified residue 1, strand 1

Structure

Experimental structures (PDB)

26 structures.

PDBMethodResolution (Å)
2GTWX-RAY DIFFRACTION1.55
4WJ5X-RAY DIFFRACTION1.65
3QFDX-RAY DIFFRACTION1.68
2GTZX-RAY DIFFRACTION1.7
2GT9X-RAY DIFFRACTION1.75
2GUOX-RAY DIFFRACTION1.9
3L6FX-RAY DIFFRACTION2.1
3MRPX-RAY DIFFRACTION2.1
6TMOX-RAY DIFFRACTION2.1
3MRQX-RAY DIFFRACTION2.2
9O5SX-RAY DIFFRACTION2.27
7TR4X-RAY DIFFRACTION2.3
6D78X-RAY DIFFRACTION2.35
3MROX-RAY DIFFRACTION2.35
4JFFX-RAY DIFFRACTION2.43
5E9DX-RAY DIFFRACTION2.51
4L3EX-RAY DIFFRACTION2.56
3QEQX-RAY DIFFRACTION2.59
3QDMX-RAY DIFFRACTION2.8
4EUPX-RAY DIFFRACTION2.88
6DKPX-RAY DIFFRACTION2.97
3HG1X-RAY DIFFRACTION3
4QOKX-RAY DIFFRACTION3
5NHTX-RAY DIFFRACTION3.2
7Q9BX-RAY DIFFRACTION3.24
5NQKX-RAY DIFFRACTION3.25

Predicted structure (AlphaFold)

ModelpLDDTFraction very-high
AF-Q16655-F163.310.12

Antibody-complex structures (SAbDab): 17TR4

Functional residue map

Curated UniProt residues grouped by drug-discovery relevance — catalytic, ligand-binding, modification, and mutation-validated positions. Source: UniProtKB sequence features.

Post-translational modifications (1): 108

Function

Pathways and Gene Ontology

Reactome pathways

4 pathways

IDPathway
R-HSA-9824585Regulation of MITF-M-dependent genes involved in pigmentation
R-HSA-1266738Developmental Biology
R-HSA-9730414MITF-M-regulated melanocyte development
R-HSA-9856651MITF-M-dependent gene expression

MSigDB gene sets: 89 (showing top): GSE18804_SPLEEN_MACROPHAGE_VS_BRAIN_TUMORAL_MACROPHAGE_UP, CAR_TNFRSF25, BHATI_G2M_ARREST_BY_2METHOXYESTRADIOL_DN, MODULE_64, HERNANDEZ_ABERRANT_MITOSIS_BY_DOCETACEL_2NM_UP, GOCC_TRANS_GOLGI_NETWORK, BLALOCK_ALZHEIMERS_DISEASE_UP, MODULE_157, CAR_MLANA, MODULE_568, MODULE_491, MODULE_104, GOCC_NUCLEAR_OUTER_MEMBRANE_ENDOPLASMIC_RETICULUM_MEMBRANE_NETWORK, GOCC_PIGMENT_GRANULE, GOCC_ORGANELLE_SUBCOMPARTMENT

GO Biological Process (0):

GO Molecular Function (1): protein binding (GO:0005515)

GO Cellular Component (8): endoplasmic reticulum membrane (GO:0005789), Golgi apparatus (GO:0005794), trans-Golgi network (GO:0005802), plasma membrane (GO:0005886), melanosome membrane (GO:0033162), melanosome (GO:0042470), endoplasmic reticulum (GO:0005783), membrane (GO:0016020)

Reactome top-level categories

Rollup of top-3 pathways:

CategoryPathways
MITF-M-dependent gene expression1
Developmental Biology1
MITF-M-regulated melanocyte development1

GO top-level categories

Rollup of top GO terms by namespace:

CategoryTerms
cytoplasm2
endomembrane system2
intracellular membrane-bounded organelle2
binding1
organelle membrane1
nuclear outer membrane-endoplasmic reticulum membrane network1
endoplasmic reticulum subcompartment1
Golgi apparatus subcompartment1
membrane1
cell periphery1
melanosome1
chitosome1
pigment granule membrane1
pigment granule1
cellular anatomical structure1

Protein interactions and networks

STRING

826 interactions, top by confidence (×1000):

Protein AProtein BPartner UniProtScore
MLANAPMELP40967959
MLANATYRP14679926
MLANAGPR143P51810898
MLANAHHATQ5VTY9768
MLANATYRP1P17643725
MLANASOX10P56693720
MLANAMITFO75030716
MLANADCTP40126660
MLANATRPM1Q7Z4N2606
MLANASLC45A2Q9UMX9601
MLANAPAX3P23760592
MLANARAB27AP51159573
MLANASLC24A5Q71RS6544
MLANAMCAMP43121527
MLANAOCA2Q04671524

IntAct

10 interactions, top by confidence:

ABTypeScore
ITCHMLANApsi-mi:“MI:0407”(direct interaction)0.590
NEDD4MLANApsi-mi:“MI:0407”(direct interaction)0.590
MLANANEDD4psi-mi:“MI:0914”(association)0.590
EPN2MLANApsi-mi:“MI:0915”(physical association)0.560
MLANAGPR143psi-mi:“MI:0915”(physical association)0.460
GPR143MLANApsi-mi:“MI:0403”(colocalization)0.460
YAP1MLANApsi-mi:“MI:0407”(direct interaction)0.440
MLANAEPN2psi-mi:“MI:0915”(physical association)0.000

BioGRID (9): MLANA (Two-hybrid), MLANA (Protein-peptide), MLANA (Protein-peptide), MLANA (Protein-peptide), MLANA (Proximity Label-MS), NEDD4 (Affinity Capture-Western), ITCH (Affinity Capture-Western), NEDD4 (Reconstituted Complex), ITCH (Reconstituted Complex)

ESM2 similar proteins: A0A1B0GRQ0, A0A1B0GSZ0, A0A1B0GVT2, A0A590UK83, A0PK05, A2VDU1, A2VE22, A4QNL6, A5D7B5, A5D992, O43609, O75324, P0DKX4, P29414, P61807, P61808, Q0VFM5, Q15053, Q16655, Q17Q87, Q1L0X2, Q2KIK3, Q2TBG9, Q3MHM8, Q498C7, Q4V921, Q58CU5, Q5RBD8, Q5RF07, Q5RGQ8, Q64448, Q6UWT2, Q80ZU4, Q8BGN6, Q8BUM6, Q8C3K5, Q8C817, Q8K1D8, Q8N6S5, Q91VT8

SIGNOR signaling

1 interactions.

AEffectBMechanism
MITF“up-regulates quantity by expression”MLANA“transcriptional regulation”

Disease & clinical

Clinical variants and AI predictions

ClinVar

5 variants total. Per-class counts are floors (≥ shown; pagination cap):

ClassificationCount (floor)
Pathogenic1
Likely pathogenic0
Uncertain significance3
Likely benign0
Benign0

Top pathogenic / likely-pathogenic (1)

Variant IDHGVSClassification
1527478GRCh37/hg19 9p24.3-24.1(chr9:203861-8735462)Pathogenic

SpliceAI

637 predictions. Top by Δscore:

VariantEffectΔscore
9:5892550:GA:Gdonor_gain1.0000
9:5892552:G:GGdonor_gain1.0000
9:5906878:A:AGacceptor_gain1.0000
9:5906883:A:AGacceptor_gain1.0000
9:5906883:AG:Aacceptor_gain1.0000
9:5906884:G:GAacceptor_gain1.0000
9:5906884:GG:Gacceptor_gain1.0000
9:5906996:GTG:Gdonor_gain1.0000
9:5906999:G:GGdonor_gain1.0000
9:5907000:T:Adonor_loss1.0000
9:5890932:GGAAG:Gdonor_gain0.9900
9:5890933:GAAGG:Gdonor_gain0.9900
9:5890934:A:Tdonor_gain0.9900
9:5890934:AAGG:Adonor_loss0.9900
9:5890936:GGTAA:Gdonor_loss0.9900
9:5890937:GTAAG:Gdonor_loss0.9900
9:5890938:T:Adonor_loss0.9900
9:5892547:GAAGA:Gdonor_gain0.9900
9:5892551:AG:Adonor_loss0.9900
9:5892553:T:TCdonor_loss0.9900
9:5892554:AA:Adonor_loss0.9900
9:5906876:A:AGacceptor_gain0.9900
9:5906877:C:Gacceptor_gain0.9900
9:5906884:GGA:Gacceptor_gain0.9900
9:5906884:GGAT:Gacceptor_gain0.9900
9:5906884:GGATA:Gacceptor_gain0.9900
9:5907004:T:Gdonor_gain0.9900
9:5890933:GAAG:Gdonor_gain0.9800
9:5892449:GGT:Gacceptor_gain0.9800
9:5892555:AG:Adonor_loss0.9800

AlphaMissense

0 scored. Top likely-pathogenic:

dbSNP variants (sampled 300 via entrez): RS1000054310 (9:5899100 A>G), RS1000070152 (9:5899702 A>G), RS1000116506 (9:5893641 G>C), RS1000121993 (9:5908139 T>G), RS1000162093 (9:5892027 T>C,G), RS1000422927 (9:5909681 T>G), RS1000449400 (9:5897298 G>A), RS1000466113 (9:5893129 C>T), RS1000496978 (9:5893296 G>A), RS1000502879 (9:5895085 C>T), RS1000610266 (9:5889394 G>A,C), RS1000664287 (9:5898305 C>A,T), RS1000737197 (9:5897024 T>C), RS1000774282 (9:5909415 T>C), RS1000969942 (9:5900175 A>G)

Disease associations

OMIM: gene MIM:605513 | disease phenotypes:

GenCC curated gene-disease

Mondo (0):

Orphanet (0):

HPO phenotypes

0 total (0 of 0 shown, HPO-id order):

GWAS associations

6 associations (top):

StudyTraitp-value
GCST001341_1Multiple sclerosis3.000000e-08
GCST007013_3Hippocampal volume in mild cognitive impairment3.000000e-07
GCST008916_119Asthma1.000000e-15
GCST008916_20Asthma5.000000e-36
GCST008916_26Asthma3.000000e-64
GCST009798_74Asthma2.000000e-15

EFO canonical traits (1, from GWAS)

EFO IDTrait name
EFO:0005035hippocampal volume

Drugs & pharmacology

Drug and pharmacology data

Is drug target: no

PharmGKB: 1 entry (VIP=true, CPIC=false)

CTD chemical–gene interactions

16 total (human), top 16 by PubMed support.

ChemicalActions (top 5)PubMed papers
Valproic Aciddecreases expression2
FR900359affects phosphorylation1
bisphenol Adecreases methylation1
fipronilaffects cotreatment, decreases expression1
clothianidinincreases expression1
belinostatdecreases expression1
Vemurafenibincreases expression1
Benzo(a)pyreneincreases methylation1
DEETaffects cotreatment, decreases expression1
Etoposideaffects response to substance1
Latexdecreases expression1
Tamoxifendecreases expression1
Isotretinoindecreases expression1
Aflatoxin B1increases methylation1
Sodium Selenitedecreases expression1
Cadmium Chloridedecreases expression1

Clinical trials (associated diseases)

0 trials via MONDO — disease-level, not drug-specific.

No linked Atlas pages yet — the cross-entity mesh grows as the corpus expands.