A class of fibrous proteins or scleroproteins that represents the principal constituent of epidermis; hair; nails; horny tissues, and the organic matrix of tooth ENAMEL. Two major conformational groups have been characterized, alpha-keratin, whose peptide backbone forms a coiled-coil alpha helical structure consisting of TYPE I KERATIN and a TYPE II KERATIN, and beta-keratin, whose backbone forms a zigzag or pleated sheet structure. alpha-keratins have been classified into at least 20 subtypes. In addition multiple isoforms of subtypes have been found which may be due to gene duplication.