Scientists are one step closer to making UV-induced age spots and liver spots a thing of the past.
A team of researchers from ESRF, University of Groningen and Wageningen Food and Biobased Research, has unravelled the structure of one of the three enzymes that generates melanin in humans.
The new discovery could open doors to new whitening products to remove the discolouration of damaged skin.
The structure of these enzymes was previously unknown and scientists did not know how the enzyme produced melanin, but now they have been able to crystalise tyrosinase related protein 1 (a melanin enzyme) and hope they can use this procedure to examine the final two enzymes.
Xuelei Lai, the lead scientist in the study, said: “We believe that if we follow the same procedure we could probably solve the structure of tyrosinase and tyrosinase related protein 2, so these results look very promising in our quest to disentangle the complex way melanin is generated."
Fellow researcher Bauke Dijkstra, said: "Cosmetic companies are investing a huge effort in this, so we expect that our findings will be a major advance in the field."