Keratin 5 to withstand mechanical, and non-mechanical, stresses. K5/K14 keratin pairs are able to undergo extensive bundling due to the non-helical tail of K15 acting as a weak cross-linker at the intermediate filament surface. This bundling increases the elasticity, and therefore the mechanical resilience, of the intermediate filaments. K5/K14 intermediate filaments are anchored to the desmosomes of basal cells via desmoplakin and plakophilin-1, connecting the cells to their neighbours. At the hemidesmosome, plectin and BPAG1 associate with transmembrane proteins α6β4 integrin, a type of cell adhesion molecule, and BP180/collagen XVII, linking K5/K14 filaments in the basal cells to the basal lamina. Epidermolysis
Keratin 5 heterodimers are formed between specific pairs of type I (acidic) and type II (basic) keratin. K5, a type II keratin, pairs with the type I keratin K14. The coiled-coil dimers undergo stepwise assembly and combine in an antiparallel manner, forming end-to-end interactions with other coiled-coils to form large 10 nm intermediate filaments. Keratin 5 (and K14) are expressed primarily in basal keratinocytes in the epidermis, specifically in the stratified epithelium lining the skin and digestive tract. Keratin intermediate filaments make up the cytoskeletal scaffold within epithelial cells, which contributes to the cell architecture and provides the cells with the ability