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Aaron Klug and the revolution in biomolecular structure determination

2004; Elsevier BV; Volume: 14; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.tcb.2004.01.002

1879-3088

Linda Amos,

Plant Virus Research Studies

Aaron Klug's group was one of the first to use a combination of X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy to study the structures of macromolecules. He helped to provide the intellectual framework for understanding the self-assembly of regular viruses and developed methods for analyzing their three-dimensional structures from electron microscope images, as well as the structures of helical polymers. He and his coworkers established the basic features of chromatin organization, including the structure of the repeating units (nucleosomes) and how they are stacked together. He studied a variety of molecules that interact with DNA or RNA, including disks of tobacco mosaic virus protein, a tRNA and a ribozyme, and also discovered the zinc-finger motif in nucleic acid-binding proteins. Thus, he has played a major part in developing the ideas and techniques that established structural molecular biology as an exciting new science during the second half of the twentieth century. ∗ This article is part of the Pioneers series in Trends in Cell Biology. Pioneers articles feature researchers, experiments and concepts that forged the way to modern cell biology. ∗This article is part of the Pioneers series in Trends in Cell Biology. Pioneers articles feature researchers, experiments and concepts that forged the way to modern cell biology.