The term cytoskeleton has become firmly established in today's scientific vocabulary. Indeed, it is difficult to believe that only ten years ago, it was virtually non-existent. Since then, the modern field of research on the structural organization of the cytoplasm has turned into one of the most productive and rapidly expanding research areas in Cell Biology today. Considerable progress has been made towards the identification of the various structural components of the cytoskeleton and their interactions with one another and with membranes. The first attempts to understand, in molecular...

Almost twenty years ago DE DuvE discovered the existence in rat liver cells of a novel class of subcellular structures which he termed lysosomes. As the lysosomes are the seat of various hydrolytic enzymes this discovery greatly stimulated the interest in cellular digestive processes. It is now recognized that compartmentation of hydrolases is an outstanding example of the dependence of metabolic functions on cell structure. The important role of lytic processes in plant metabolism made it interesting to correlate the facts on the various phenomena and present them from the point of view of...

This brief monograph is intended chiefly for non-specialists and for others interested in a concise introduction to the field. The literature on lysosomes is growing so rapidly that any effort at exhaustive comprehensiveness would be foredoomed to failure. Fortunately, an extensive series of reviews has been published in the past few years (see especially DINGLE and FELL 1969; DINGLE 1972, 1973 a; HERS and VAN HoOF 1973) and the "history" of the organelles is brief enough that major contributors to all stages of that history are still available to provide first-hand discussions (e. g. , DE...

In the past few years, the body of experimental work on the structure, function and assembly processes of mitochondria has expanded rapidly. No one person can believe himself or herself completely in control of the burgeoning literature without possessing serious omissions or blind spots. In the present monograph I have attempted a critical evaluation of the literature. I believe that the common thread of single authorship outweighs the shortcomings of one person presenting many disparate viewpo, ints. It is my hope that the end product represents a comprehensive and coordinated review of the...

Mit der vorliegenden monographischen Bearbeitung der Microbodies/ Peroxisomen pflanzlicher Zellen habe ich versucht, eine umfassende Dbersicht uber die - keineswegs widerspruchsfreien - Daten zu geben, die direkt oder indirekt beitragen zur Charakterisierung dieses Zellorganells an sich. In diesen Zusammenhang ist auch ein wesentlicher Teil der tabellarischen Dbersichten einzuordnen, die u. a. verdeutlichen, wie breit z. Zt. die Basis fur generali- sierende Aussagen ist. AuBerdem war es mein Anliegen, die Microbodies/ Peroxisomen unter dem Gesichtspunkt ihrer Integration in die ubergeordnete...

The subject of this book has not been treated comprehensively before. For many years I have hesitated to attempt a monographic presentation because I felt uneasy about the idea of delineating something I am not sure about myself, and I felt it might be rash to try to integrate what seemed-and largely still seems-to consist of a heap of tessera not fitting together. The conviction won over, however, that the many details accumulated thus far call for some order now, and that an appraisal of where we stand would be appropriate. This book, I hope, can fill a gap barring the way to further...

In 1958 E. BUNNING published a book in the former series "Proto- plasmatologia" entitled "Polaritat und inaquale Teilung des pflanzlichen Protoplasten" (polarity and unequal division of the plant protoplast) in which for the first time results of experimental plant cytomorphogenesis were re- viewed. This book was based completely on light microscopic observations and rather simple experimental techniques. Since then our knowledge of basic cytomorphogenetic mechanisms has greatly increased, especially with the introduction of modern ultrastructural, biochemical and sophisticated experi- mental...

Rapid progress in the field of sialic acids has made it desirable to collect the new data about these unique sugars and to continue the series of books on this topic. In 1960, A. GOTTSCHALK wrote "The Chemistry and Biology of Sialic Acids and Related Substances" (Cambridge University Press) and in 1976, A. ROSENBERG and C. -L. SCHENGRUND published "Biological Roles of Sialic Acids" (Plenum Press). In this book emphasis is given to various modern methods used in the isolation and analysis of sialic acids. New approaches to the synthesis of free and bound sialic acids are described and the vast...

In 1977 I wrote a grant proposal in which I applied to study developmental patterns in enzymatic methylation of DNA in eukaryotes. One part of the proposal was to assay cells at different embryonic developmental stages for maintenance and de novo type methylase activity. With one exception the referees, probably developmental biologists, recommended that the work not be supported because there was no evidence that methylation plays any role in eukaryotic gene regulation. Aside from proving that innovative ideas can seldom be used to successfully compete for grant funds, the skepticism of...

The nucleolus had consistently attracted the attention of investigators in the fields of cell biology and pathology. Because of its ubiquitous presence in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells, its rapid changes during their life cycle, and its rapid response to noxious agents, this organelle has been the subject of a large number of studies. Yet, the exact function and the very reason for the existence of the nucleolus (the only large cellular structure not delimited by a membrane) remain largely unknown. The ribosomes were discovered relatively late in the study of cells, but due to their crucial...