Involucrin is a protein component of human skin and in humans is encoded by the IVLgene.[3][4] In binding the protein loricrin, involucrin contributes to the formation of a cell envelope that protects corneocytes in the skin.
Involucrin is synthesised in the stratum spinosum and cross linked in the stratum granulosum by the transglutaminase enzyme that makes it highly stable. Thus it provides structural support to the cell, thereby allowing the cell to resist invasion by micro-organisms.
Involucrin consists of a conservedN-terminal region of about 75 amino acid residues followed by two extremely variable length segments that contain glutamine-rich tandem repeats. The glutamine residues in the tandem repeats are the substrate for the transglutaminase in the cross-linking reaction. The total size of the protein varies from 285 residues (in dog) to 835 residues (in orangutan).
^Green H, Djian P (November 1992). "Consecutive actions of different gene-altering mechanisms in the evolution of involucrin". Mol. Biol. Evol. 9 (6): 977–1017. PMID1359382.
^Djian P, Phillips M, Easley K, Huang E, Simon M, Rice RH, Green H (November 1993). "The involucrin genes of the mouse and the rat: study of their shared repeats". Mol. Biol. Evol. 10 (6): 1136–49. PMID8277848.
^Eckert RL, Yaffe MB, Crish JF, Murthy S, Rorke EA, Welter JF (May 1993). "Involucrin--structure and role in envelope assembly". J. Invest. Dermatol. 100 (5): 613–7. doi:10.1111/1523-1747.ep12472288. PMID8098344.
^Balasubramanian S, Zhu L, Eckert RL (November 2006). "Apigenin inhibition of involucrin gene expression is associated with a specific reduction in phosphorylation of protein kinase Cdelta Tyr311". J. Biol. Chem. 281 (47): 36162–72. doi:10.1074/jbc.M605368200. PMID16982614.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)