Brown University
Kenneth R. Miller - Research Interests
I am interested in the detailed relationships of structure and function in biological membranes. One of the principal experimental systems which my lab has used is to photosynthetic membrane. By using the freeze-etching technique, metal replicas can be prepared for the electron microscope which capture the fine details of membrane structure. These can be correlated with the polypeptide and lipid composition of the membrane.
We have also begun to investigate structure-function relationships in plasmodesmata, the junctions that link plant cells. Using the freeze-etching technique we have prepared high-resolution images of these junctions. In the next few months we expect to be able to follow the movement of macromolecules from cell to cell through the junction at the resolution level of the electron microscope.
D. Hanein, KES Matlack, B Jungnickel, K Plath. K-U Kalies, KR Miller, TA Rapaport, & CW Akey (1996) Oligomeric rings of the Sec61p complex induced by ligands required for protein translocation. Cell 87: 721-732.
This paper, which was featured on the cover of the November 15, 1996 issue of CELL, reported the first direct visualization of the actual channel through which proteins are translocated into the rough ER. We were also able to show that the assembly of the channel is stimulated by association with ribosomes, providing evidence that it is a dynamic structure that forms in response to contact with the machinery of translation.
