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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 17, 2026

$Measurements of Long-range Electronic Correlations During Femtosecond Diffraction Experiments Performed on Nanocrystals of Buckminsterfullerene$

Measurements of Long-range Electronic Correlations During Femtosecond Diffraction Experiments Performed on Nanocrystals of Buckminsterfullerene

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50 years of fiber diffraction.

Kenneth C Holmes¹

¹Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, 69129 Heidelberg, Germany. holmes@mpimf-heidelberg.mpg.de

Journal of Structural Biology

|January 19, 2010

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Ken Holmes

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Area of Science:

Structural biology
Biophysics
Molecular biology

Background:

Pioneering research on Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) structure.
Investigated muscle filament structures, including mussel byssus retractor muscle and insect flight muscle myosin.
Early work with Rosalind Franklin and later with Aaron Klug.

Observation:

Determined the core structure of mussel muscle filaments as two-stranded alpha-helical coiled-coils.
Identified two conformations of the myosin cross-bridge in insect flight muscle.
Advanced TMV structure resolution to 4Å, elucidating RNA-protein binding.

Findings:

Solved the crystalline structure of gamma-actin (g-actin).
Determined the structure of filamentous actin (f-actin) by orienting g-actin.
Elucidated the structure of the actin-tropomyosin complex using fiber diffraction.

Implications:

Provided high-resolution structural insights into fundamental biological molecules.
Advanced the understanding of viral structures and muscle protein mechanics.
Laid groundwork for further structural studies using synchrotron radiation.