Diversity of trichocyte keratins and keratin associated proteins

Abstract

Wool and hair fibres are primarily composed of proteins of which the keratins and keratin associated proteins (KAPs) are the major component. Considerable diversity is known to exist within these two groups of proteins. In the case of the keratins two major families are known, of which there are 11 members in the acidic Type I family and 7 members in the neutral-basic Type II family. The KAPs are even more diverse than the keratins, with 35 families being known to exist when the KAPs found in monotremes, marsupials and other mammalian species are taken into consideration. Human hair and wool are known to have 88 and 73 KAPs respectively, though this number rises for wool when polymorphism within KAP families is included.