Volume 5 of Biomembranes covers an important group of membrane proteins, the ATPases. The P-type ATPases couple the hydrolysis of ATP to the movement of ions across a membrane and are characterized by the formation of a phosphoyrlated intermediate. Included are the plasma membrane and muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca²⁺ -ATPases, the (Na⁺ -K⁺) -ATPase, the gastric (H⁺ -K⁺) -ATPase, the plasma membrane H⁺ -ATPase of fungi and plants, the Mg2+ - transport ATPase, the Salmonella typhimurium, and the K⁺ -ATPase of...

Both science and religion are aspects of human endeavor that do not observe political constraints. It is therefore appropriate that contributions should come from many different countries for a series which attempts to chronicle developments in an interdisciplinary field such as membrane research. This volume is an excellent example of the diversity of thinking, background, and approach needed by the working scientist for his re- search planning. From Canada comes a review by Silverman and Turner of the mech- anisms by means of which the plasma membrane of the renal proximal tubule acts as a...

It was a warm, sunny morning in Rehovot. The sky was c1ear as it always is in June. As I walked to the Institute that morning, too many cars were passing by, too many people were hurrying onto the Institute's grounds. No one was smiling, acquaintances were recognized by a slight nod of the head. When I turned the corner, a few people already had gathered on the lawn in front of the Jacob Ziskind building. This number was to swell to thousands before the service was over. We were to be joined by the President of Israel, its first Prime Minister, many members of the cabinet, and other great,...

Molecular transport of substances in the presence or absence of membranes is an ubiquitous phenomenon. Research workers from various disciplines in the biological and phys ical sciences are actively pursuing problems of transport. One of the important questions arising in numerous biological transport situations concerns the differentiation between passive and active transport. The latter is a more complex phenomenon involving metabolic processes, and the economy of thinking requires that attempts to explain any transport pro cess from passive mechanisms should be carried as far as pos sible...

It has become increasingly clear during the last few years that metabolic processes in plant, bacterial, and mammalian cells can no longer be thought of as taking place in a homogeneous intracellular phase. Many enzymes and blood group and histocompatibility antigens have been found associated with subcellular organelles; some chemotherapeutic agents are active because they interfere with the biosynthesis of membranes, and studies of hormonal regulation involve investigations of various aspects of membrane function. The integration of structure and function has become one of the most exciting...

This volume contains the contributions to a symposium held at Gatlinburg, Tennessee, under the auspices of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in April, 1971. In the past, these proceedings had appeared as a supplement to the Journal of Cellular Physiology. Due to the nature of the subject ma terial and the relevance of the topic of the symposium to the readers of BIOMEMBRANES, it was agreed by the organizers of the symposium to publish the contributions of the partici pants as a separate volume in BIOMEMBRANES. It had been originally envisaged that, from time to time, the proceedings of a...

Not many years ago, problems of membranes and transport attracted the attention of but a few dozen enthusiasts, mainly physiolo gists who recognize the significance of membranes for the stabilization of the general steady state of organisms. The first symposium organ ized some fifteen years ago could boast of the attendance of perhaps fifty scientists (the remaining fifty were not yet sure that membranes was the topic of their choice), ranging in specialization from physical chemistry to bacterial genetics, who clairvoyantly decided to study what now has become the number one subject at most...

The aim of this book is to bring together in one volume the current research and thought on the concept of membrane fluidity as a biological phenomenon. The invited articles are intended to review recent develop- ments in the areas of membrane research covered and to summarize the current concepts and theories in those areas. The authors have been given ample opportunity to present their thoughts and speculation on membrane fluidity and related phenomena in a more expanded form than is usually possible in reviews of this type. It is hoped that this approach will have a stimulating effect on...

The most valuable service Dr. Gel'man and her colleagues have performed for the many investigators of bacterial membrane systems in producing their first excellent monograph on "The Respiratory Apparatus of Bacteria" in 1966 has been continued and expanded in the preparation of this volume. The au- thors have brought together in a single volume much of the detail of investiga- tions of bacterial membranes at the ultrastructura11eve1 and the chemical and biochemical organizationa11eve1s. The approach in bringing together this rap- idly increasing volume of discovery has been both comprehensive...