In the thin and fragile skin of mice with epidermisspecific β1 subunitknockout (keratin-14-promotercontrolled Cre-recombinase) there was an almostcomplete lack of BM, hemidesmosomes instability, a sharp decline of theproliferative potential of epidermis, and the inability of developing HF toinvaginate into the dermis. Here, KRT14 is linked to hydrops fetalis.