Dominantly-acting missense alleles in either KRT5 or KRT14 underlie the vast majority of cases of epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS), a rare genetic skin disorder in which trivial trauma results in skin blistering secondary to the lysis of fragile basal keratinocytes (Bonifas et al., 1991; Coulombe et al., 1991b; Fuchs and Coulombe, 1992; Lane et al., 1992). Here, KRT5 is linked to epidermolysis bullosa simplex.