McDaniel’s newest cover model is no diva.

He’s a chameleon from Madagascar gracing the first photographic cover of “Pigment Cell Research.” The bi-monthly journal publishes research on all aspects of pigment cells, including their biology and genetics.

The journal’s editor invited Associate Biology Professor Randy Morrison to submit a chameleon picture, and Morrison was happy to oblige. He took the photo with the help of two students, Ian Loper ’05 and Kevin Carter ’05. They put two male chameleons in potted plants outside Eaton Hall.  When the animals saw each other, they changed from green to bright yellow in three seconds flat.

“They use colors not as camouflage but to communicate,” Morrison said. “I get the best responses when the chameleons display to other males.”

The lizards change colors by moving pigment granules within their cells. Morrison’s research while on sabbatical this spring at the National Institutes of Health was an extension of this work.
He cloned pigment genes in chameleons and compared the sequences of males that are different colors.

“By understanding basic biology of pigment cells and how they work, it gives you insights into when pigment cells don’t work right, like in melanoma and vitiligo,” Morrison said.

Morrison’s research focuses on the basic biology behind color changes in lizards rather than the potential applications in humans. But he notes that humans and chameleons share one kind of pigment cell, called melanophores. Morrison says most of the color cells in lizards don’t occur in humans because human pigment is based in the hair and pigment cells in lizards are in the skin.

The paper based on his research is expected to be completed by the spring and will include data sets gathered from student researchers including Matthew Copeland ‘06, Melissa Wisner ’06, and Chava Roth ’05.

Sadly, the cover model is no longer living. These chameleons typically live only two to three years, and the animal was fully grown when the picture was taken.