The Functional Diversity of Epidermal Keratins Revealed by the Partial Rescue of the Keratin 14 Null Phenotype by Keratin 16

The study investigated the functional differences between the type I epidermal keratins K14 and K16 by expressing human K16 cDNA in K14 null mice. While K14 null mice typically died shortly after birth due to extensive blistering, those expressing K16 developed normally but later exhibited extensive alopecia, chronic epidermal ulcers, and other anomalies. This indicated that although K16 could rescue the blistering phenotype, it was not functionally equivalent to K14, particularly due to differences in the carboxy-terminal region of approximately 105 amino acids.