MITF acts as a dose-dependent ‘rheostat’ such that lower levels of Mitf activity promote proliferation, whereas higher levels of Mitf activity promote differentiation, both in development and melanoma progression, owing to the activity of transactivating factors and changes in DNA affinity promoted by histone variants or acetylation of the protein itself (Louphrasitthiphol et al., 2023, 2020; Miyadai et al., 2023; Raja et al., 2020; Taylor et al., 2011; Zeng et al., 2015). Here, MITF is linked to melanoma.