title: Characterization of human keratin-associated protein 1 family members.
abstract: Keratin-associated proteins are involved in the formation of the cross-linked network of the keratin-intermediate filament proteins that support hair fibers. In recent years, several keratin-associated protein genes have been identified and become an attractive topic in hair research. More recently, we isolated two cDNA encoding novel members of the human keratin-associated protein 1 family (human keratin-associated protein 1.6 and human keratin-associated protein 1.7), and described their expression in the hair follicle by RNA in situ hybridization. A comparison of human keratin-associated protein 1.6 and human keratin-associated protein 1.7 with other human keratin-associated protein 1 members revealed that keratin-associated protein 1 proteins are fundamentally composed of five distinct domains, and that they can be classified primarily by a striking variation in double cysteine-containing pentapeptide repeats in the repetitive I domain. The sum of the data analyzed suggests that human keratin-associated protein 1 family genes may have arisen mainly through gene duplication of the cysteine-repeat motifs during evolution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Niigata University School of Medicine, Niigata, Japan. yshimo@med.niigata-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimomura
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: Lutz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Langbein
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schweizer
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ito
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D018859:Hair Follicle / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007633:Keratins / Q000235:genetics*; D053564:Keratins, Hair-Specific; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000235:genetics*; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000235:genetics; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary / Q000235:genetics; D011506:Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D020449:Repetitive Sequences, Amino Acid
chemical_list: C489805:KRTAP1-4 protein, human; C489806:KRTAP1-5 protein, human; D053564:Keratins, Hair-Specific; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D011506:Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D007633:Keratins