Faculty

John Johnson Jr. 
Professor
Department of Molecular Biology
TSRI - 1995

Education 
Ph.D., Iowa State University, 1972

Awards & Activities 
Member, Board of Scientific Counselors, National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases; Member, Board of Governors, Consortium for Advanced Radiation Sources, University of Chicago; Editorial Boards, Virology, Journal of General Virology, Structure With Folding and Design, Journal of Molecular Recognition.

Research Focus 
We investigate model virus systems that provide insights for understanding assembly, maturation, entry, localization, and replication processes. Viruses infecting bacteria, insects, plants and the extreme thermophile sulfolobus are investigated. These viruses have genomes of ssRNA, and dsDNA. We employ a variety of physical methods to investigate structure-function relationships, including single crystal x-ray diffraction, static and time-resolved solution x-ray diffraction, electron cryo microscopy (cryoEM) and image reconstruction, mass spectrometry, structure-based computational analyses and methods associated with thermodynamic characterization of virus particles and their transitions. Biological methods employed include the genetic engineering of viral genes and their expression in E. coli, mammalian cells, insect cells and yeast and the characterization of these gene products by physical methods. Cytological studies of viral entry and infection employ fluorescence and electron microscopy and particles assembled in heterologus expression systems.

Selected References 
Khayat, R., Tang, L., Larson, E. T., Lawrence, C. M., Young, M., and Johnson, J. E. 2005. Structure of an archaeal virus capsid protein reveals a common ancestry to eukaryotic and bacterial viruses. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 102:18944-9.

Walukiewicz, H. E., Johnson, J. E., and Schneemann, A. 2006. Morphological Changes in the T=3 Capsid of Flock House Virus during Cell Entry. J Virol 80:615-22.

Wikoff, W. R., Conway, J. F., Tang, J., Lee, K. K., Gan, L., Cheng, N., Duda, R. L., Hendrix, R. W., Steven, A. C., and Johnson, J. E. 2006. Time-resolved molecular dynamics of bacteriophage HK97 capsid maturation interpreted by electron cryo-microscopy and X-ray crystallography. J Struct Biol 153:300-6

Lander, G. C., Tang, L., Casjens, S. R., Gilcrease, E. B., Prevelige, P., Poliakov, A., Potter, C. S., Carragher, B., and Johnson, J. E. 2006. The structure of an infectious P22 virion shows the signal for headful DNA packaging. Science 312:1791-5.