Natural fiber Keratin is a structural protein located at the hard surfaces in many vertebrates. Keratin has two forms, α-keratin and β-keratin and are used by different classes of animals. The naming convention for proteins follows that for keratin, alpha keratin is helical and beta keratin is sheet like. Alpha keratin is found in mammalian hair, skin, nails, horn and quills, while beta keratin can be found in avian and reptilian species in scales, feathers, and beaks. The two different structures of keratin have dissimilar mechanical properties, as seen in their dissimilar applications. The relative alignment of the keratin fibrils has a
MPLKIP MPLKIP M-phase-specific PLK1-interacting protein (TTD non-photosensitive 1 protein) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the MPLKIP gene (previously known as C7orf11). Patients with an inherited defect in both alleles of the gene suffer from trichothiodystrophy (TTD), a disease hallmarked by brittle hair and nails and usually by developmental difficulties as well. One patient carries a homozygous deletion of the whole gene area, which indicates that the gene is not essential for embryonic development. TTD can be diagnosed by the presence of tigertail-striped patterns in hair visible under polarised light microscopy, or biochemically by a reduced Cys content