Ken Ko - Professor

Research: My lab group investigates protein transport mechanisms in plants. Organellar protein delivery involves a multitude of interacting components that attend to activities like signal recognition, movement across the membranes, and processing.   Transport machineries of organelles themselves must not only attend to the dynamic act of transporting proteins but to their ever-changing relationships with the cell. The focus of our current research is on functional and regulatory aspects of this complex mechanism.

 

 

Some Recent Publications: 

•  Karakasis, K., Taylor, D., Ko. K. 2007. Uncovering a potential link between a plastid translocon component and rhomboid proteases using yeast mitochondria-based assays.  Plant Cell Physiol. 48:655-661.
• Ko, K., Chan, K., Karakasis, K., Pedram, B. 2006. Plastid protein import: Coping with diversity. Invited Review. Can. J. Bot. 84: 543-550. Special Plant Cell Biology Issue.
• Ko, K., Taylor, D., Argenton, P., Innes, J., Pedram, B., Siebert, F., Granell, A, Ko, Z. 2005. Evidence that the plastid translocon Tic40 components possess modulating capabilities. J. Biol. Chem. 280: 215-224.
• Labate, M.T.V., Ko, K., Ko, Z.W., Costa Pinto, L.S.R., Real, M.J.U.D., Romano, M.R., Barja, P.R., Granell, A., Friso, G., van Wijk, K.J., Brugnoli, E., Augusti, A., Labate, C.A. 2004. Constitutive expression of pea Lhcb1-2 in tobacco affects plant development, morphology and photosynthetic capacity. Plant Mol. Biol. 55: 702-714.
• Ko, K., Banerjee, S., Innes, J., Taylor, D., Ko, Z. 2004. The Tic40 translocon components exhibit preferential interactions with different forms of the Oee1 plastid protein precursor. Functional Plant Biol. 31: 285-294.
• Taylor, D., Bedard, J., Ko, K. 2004. A cross-organelle proteomic approach for elucidating plastid translocon function. Proceedings of the XIIth International Congress: Genes, Gene Families, and Isozymes. CD-ROM Publication January 2004. Pages 93-97.