Keratin 77 (KRT77)

Keratins, such as KRT77, are filament proteins that make up one of the major structural fibers of epithelial cells.Using database analysis to identify keratin genes within the type II keratin gene domain on chromosome 12, Rogers et al. (2005) identified KRT77, which they called K1B.

The deduced 578-amino acid protein has a calculated molecular mass of 61.8 kD. Like other type II keratins, K1B has N- and C-terminal domains and a central rod domain consisting of 4 alpha-helical regions separated by 3 nonhelical linker sequences. In addition, it has numerous GGG and GGX repeats in its head and tail domains. Northern blot analysis detected weak expression of a 3.0-kb K1B transcript in skin, but not in scalp or in any other tissues or organs examined.