The TYRP (brown) locus determines pigmentation and coat color in the mouse. The human homolog of the TYRP locus has been recently identified and shown to encode a 75-kDa transmembrane melanosomal glycoprotein called gp75. The gp75 glycoprotein is homologous to tyrosinase, an enzyme involved in the synthesis of melanin, forming a family of tyrosinase-related proteins. A genomic clone of human gp75 was used to map the human TYRP locus to chromosome 9, region 9p23, by nonradioactive fluorescent in situ hybridization. Specificity of hybridization was tested with a genomic fragment of human tyrosinase that mapped to a distinct site on 11q21. The 9p region has been reported to be nonrandomly altered in human melanoma, suggesting a role for the region near the TYRP locus in melanocyte transformation.