Lighter variations of pigmentation in humans are associated with diminished number, size, and density of melanosomes, the pigmented organelles of melanocytes. Here we show that zebrafish golden mutants share these melanosomal changes and that golden encodes a putative cation exchanger slc24a5 (nckx5) that localizes to an intracellular membrane, likely the melanosome or its precursor. The human ortholog is highly similar in sequence and functional in zebrafish. The evolutionarily conserved ancestral allele of a human coding polymorphism predominates in African and East Asian populations. In contrast, the variant allele is nearly fixed in European populations, is associated with a substantial reduction in regional heterozygosity, and correlates with lighter skin pigmentation in admixed populations, suggesting a key role for the SLC24A5 gene in human pigmentation.

Detailed retinotopic maps of primary visual cortex (area 17) and the extrastriate visual regions surrounding it (areas 18a and 18b) have been constructed for the C57BL/6J mouse using standard electrophysiological mapping techniques. Primary visual cortex (area 17), as defined cytoarchitectonically, contains one complete representation of the contralateral visual field, termed V1, in which azimuth and elevation lines are approximately orthogonal. The upper visual field is represented caudally and the nasal field laterally. Binocular cells are encountered in the cortical representation of the nasal 30--40 degrees of the visual field, and there is an expanded representation of the nasal field. Extrastriate visual cortex of the mouse, like that of other mammals, contains multiple representations of the visual field. The cytoarchitectonic region of cortex lateral and rostral to area 17, termed area 18a, contains at least two such representations. The more medial of these, which by convention we have called V2, is a narrow strip surrounding V1 on its lateral and rostral aspects; the vertical meridian lies along a portion of its common border with V1. The visual field representation in V2 is not a mirror image of that in V1; the representation of the horizontal meridian forms the lateral border of V2, and the visual field representation is split so that adjacent points on either side of the horizontal meridian are represented in nonadjacent parts of V2. The other visual field representation within area 18a, which we have termed V3, is a small but apparently complete representation that lies lateral to V2. The visual field representations medial to area 17 correspond to cytoarchitectonic area 18b. Area 18b contains two representations of the temporal visual field that we have labeled Vm-r and Vm-c, and contains little or no representation of the most nasal aspect of the field.