The structure of the α-keratin microfibril

Quantitative measurements of the intensity of the meridional reflections in the X-ray-diffraction pattern of alpha-keratin are shown to be consistent with a microfibril structure in which a surface lattice with an axially projected period around 200 A is subject to a periodic interruption with an axially projected period of 470 A. Taken in conjunction with recent evidence on the chemical structure of alpha-keratin and other intermediate filaments this finding enables an elaboration to be made of a model proposed earlier by RDB Fraser, TP MacRae, & E Suzuki (J. Mol. Biol. 108, 435-452, 1976) for the alpha-helical framework of the microfibril. The disposition and connectivity of the helical segments suggested here provides a straightforward explanation of a number of recent physicochemical and electron-microscopical observations on intermediate filaments and provides a starting point for the development of models for the framework of other intermediate filaments.