Understanding the molecular basis of complex biological processes has been a major goal of biological chemistry from early on. Inflammation is one such entity, and recent years have seen exciting progress in the under standing of molecular interactions; there has been a long way from dolor, rubor, calor, and tumor as a fundamental description of the phenomenon to current knowledge, e.g., on the control of the respiratory burst of the granulocyte, the atomic details of protease regulation, or the interaction of cytokines. We were glad to have been given the opportunity by the Gesellschaft fUr...

Provided here is an easily accessible introduction to the mechanisms of DNA replication, regulation and the biochemistry of cell cycle control. An overview of this rapidly developing field is presented to orient the reader, followed by a series of contributions by leading researchers summarizing recent results on selected topics, such as protein phosporylation, tumor suppressor genes, and signal transduction in prokaryotic and eucaryotic systems. The reader will gain an overview of our current understanding of DNA replication and the cell cycle, and a selection of useful recent references for...

Understanding the biological role of the diverse oligosaccharides of glycoproteins and glycolipids has been a major challenge in cell biology. Glycosylation is an essential step during molecular recognition and is involved in protein folding, sorting, targeting and intracellular translocation. Further, glycoproteins of the cell membrane play a major role in cell adhesion, hormone function, antibody action and signal mediation. Current knowledge of the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in these processes is presented.

This volume contains the proceedings of the 45th Mosbach Colloquium of the German Society for Biological Chemistry (GBCh). The 1994 meeting was the first in this series devoted to the cytoskeleton. This complex system enables the eukaryotic cell to form discrete contacts with neighboring cells and the extracellular matrix, to differentiate, to move, change shape, transport organelles, and proliferate. These diverse tasks are performed by three distinct fibrillar networks: microfilaments, microtubules, and intermediate filaments, which are composed of structural and regulatory elements. The...

The cells of the immune system generate a large variety of binding sites which differ in their binding specificities and can therefore react specifically with a large variety of ligands. These binding sites are part of receptor molecules, enabling the system to react to the universe of antigens. The classical antigen receptor is the antibody molecule, and accord ingly the first session of this colloquium deals with a classical sub ject, namely antibody structure. Dramatic recent advances in this field make it possible to interrelate primary and three-dimensional struc ture both to each other...

The topic of the 29th Hosbach Colloquium Energy Transduction in Biological Membranes is one of the most formidable problems in biology. Its solu- tion in molecular terms has proved to be a very difficult task for a whole generation of biochemists. The Mosbach Colloquia had so far not yet covered this subject. In for- mer Mosbach Colloquia some contributions were closely related, such as the lecture by E. C. Slater on the mitochondrial respiratory chain, presented 25 years ago. A broader coverage of this subject was given in the Mosbach Colloquia on Biochemistry of Oxygen in 1968, and on...

Proteinases were among the first enzymes to be investigated biochemi- cally, and purification and crystallization especially of proteolytic enzymes of the digestive tract has contributed much to our present knowledge of enzymic structure and mechanisms of catalysis. However, for a long time little has been known about the functional aspects of proteinases. The only exception from this have been the digestive tract enzymes responsible for extracellular catalysis of protein breakdown and supply of amino acids for new-protein assembly and nitrogen metab- olism in the respective organs. The work...

Eukaryotic cells contain a plurality of organelles distinguished by their specific membranes and contents. Their biogenesis occurs by growth and division of preexisting structures rather than de novo. Mitochondria and chloroplasts, which appear to be descended from prokaryotic ancestors, have retained some DNA and the biosynthetic capability for its expression. They synthesize, however, only a few of their proteins themselves. Most of their proteins are synthesized on free ribosomes in the cytoplasm and are only assembled in the correct membrane after synthesis is complete. The biogenesis of...

Enzymes perform the executive role in growth, energy conversion, and repair of a living organism. Their activity is adjusted to their en vironment within the cell, being turned off, switched on, or finely tuned by specific metabolites according to demands at the physiologi cal level. Each enzyme discovered in the long history of enzymology has revealed its own individuality. Even closely related members of a family differ in specificity, stability or regulatory properties. Despite these, at first sight overwhelming aspects of individuality, common factors of enzymic reactions have been...