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Updated: Jun 17, 2026
08:44
Measurements of Long-range Electronic Correlations During Femtosecond Diffraction Experiments Performed on Nanocrystals of Buckminsterfullerene
Published on: August 22, 2017
50 years of fiber diffraction
1Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, 69129 Heidelberg, Germany. holmes@mpimf-heidelberg.mpg.de
Journal of Structural Biology
|January 19, 2010
Summary
Ken Holmes
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.
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