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Nature Cell Biology 3, E270–E272 (1 December 2001) | doi:10.1038/ncb1201-e270

Deconstructing desmoplakin

Sarah Hatsell & Pamela Cowin

The Victorians would have approved of the desmosome–intermediate filament complex — a structure that buttons cells together and forms a web of filamentous constraints — a system as staid and solid as the queen's corsets. The recent bodice-ripping reports of mutant desmosomal proteins that curl the hair, break hearts and leave us blistered and thick-skinned would have reinforced their moral perspective that lapses that undo buttons and let down suspenders lead to loss of integrity.