Exposure of hamster amelanotic melanoma cells to L-tyrosine caused a time-dependent increase of tyrosinase protein concentrations, tyrosinase activity and level of cell pigmentation. In contrast, Northern blot analysis using mouse tyrosinase cDNA showed a steady level of tyrosinase mRNA. Thus in hamster melanoma cells the stimulation of intracellular tyrosinase concentration by L-tyrosine is mediated mainly via a posttranscriptional mechanism.