Pre-validated custom primers for melanocyte specific genes, Tyr (tyrosinase), Tyrp1 (tyrosinase related protein-1) and Mc1r (melanocortin-1 receptor) and the house-keeping gene, β-actin, were obtained from Qiagen (Valencia, CA) along with the RNeasy Mini Kit and Quantifast SYBR green dye.
The SuperScript® first-strand cDNA synthesis kit was from Invitrogen.