Complete Structure of an Epithelial Keratin Dimer: Implications for Intermediate Filament Assembly

The study provided the first three-dimensional structural models of the complete epithelial human K1/K10 keratin dimer, revealing insights into the tri-domain structure consisting of the head, rod, and tail. It highlighted the chirality of the rod-domain twist and identified tri-subdomain partitioning in the head and tail domains. Additionally, the research identified residue characteristics that mediate non-covalent contact between chains in the dimer. These findings were significant for understanding the molecular-level connections between structure and function in intermediate filament proteins and were applicable to other epithelial keratins and intermediate filament proteins.