To determine if basal levels of autophagy are elevated in melanoma, the human melanoma cell lines C8161 (wild type BrafV600E and N-RasQ61R), A2058 (BrafV600E mutation, PTEN deleted), UACC903 (BrafV600E mutation, PTEN deleted) and SK-MEL-2 (N-RasQ61R mutation), representative of a range of melanoma genotypes, were transfected with the autophagy reporter enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-LC3 plasmid. This evidence concerns the gene MAP1LC3A and melanoma.