Summary of the assembly properties of K14WT and the K14CF and K14CF-C367 variants
| Settings | Features | K14 variant analyzed | ||
| K14WT | K14CF | K14CF-C367 | ||
| In vitroa (purified proteins) | ||||
| Reducing conditions | IF length | Long | Long | Long |
| IF width | Normal | Normal | Normal | |
| Assembly efficiency | High | High | High | |
| Oxidizing conditions | IF length | Very short | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| IF width | Normal | Normal | Aberrant | |
| Assembly efficiency | Reduced | High | Reduced | |
| Oxidizing→reducing | IF length | Long | Long | Long |
| IF width | Normal | Normal | Normal | |
| Assembly efficiency | High | High | High | |
| Krt14−/− newborn skin keratinocytes in primary cultureb | Frequency of perinuclear-concentrated networks | High | Low | Significantly restored (i.e. wild type–like) |
| Frequency of pan-cytoplasmic networks | Low | High | Significantly restored | |
| Keratin cycling | Normal | Impaired | 45%: Significantly restored55%: Impaired | |
| Movement of nucleus and whole cell | Limited | Exaggerated | Significantly restored | |
| Settings | Features | K14 variant analyzed | ||
| K14WT | K14CF | K14CF-C367 | ||
| In vitroa (purified proteins) | ||||
| Reducing conditions | IF length | Long | Long | Long |
| IF width | Normal | Normal | Normal | |
| Assembly efficiency | High | High | High | |
| Oxidizing conditions | IF length | Very short | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| IF width | Normal | Normal | Aberrant | |
| Assembly efficiency | Reduced | High | Reduced | |
| Oxidizing→reducing | IF length | Long | Long | Long |
| IF width | Normal | Normal | Normal | |
| Assembly efficiency | High | High | High | |
| Krt14−/− newborn skin keratinocytes in primary cultureb | Frequency of perinuclear-concentrated networks | High | Low | Significantly restored (i.e. wild type–like) |
| Frequency of pan-cytoplasmic networks | Low | High | Significantly restored | |
| Keratin cycling | Normal | Impaired | 45%: Significantly restored55%: Impaired | |
| Movement of nucleus and whole cell | Limited | Exaggerated | Significantly restored | |
(1) Formation of disulfide bonds limits the elongation of filaments; this effect is fully reversible. (2) When present as the only cysteine residue in K14, C367 interferes with elongation and causes a dramatic loss of filament width control.
(1) K14-bound cysteines and/or disulfide bonds are required for the centripetal keratin cycle to occur in live cells. (2) When present as the only cysteine residue in K14, C367 significantly rescues the keratin cycle, even though it exhibits aberrant properties in vitro.