This volume is the second part of the book on "Chromatin Structure and Function," which resulted from a NATO-Advanced Study Institute held at Erice during April 1978. In addition to giving an updated and detailed description of various levels of chromatin organization, i. e. octamers, nucleosomes, multimers, solenoid and higher order fibers (including the most recent, yet unpublished, findings), it focuses, in a tutorial and organic format, on the possible mechanisms controlling transcription and on the basic biological phenomena (either genetic or epigenetic) related to cell aging, cell...

vi The intent, therefore, was to provide for a fresh and original review of all relevant topics and issues in the field, following a comprehensive and coherent programme. Such an ambitious goal could only be reached thanks to the unlimited collaboration of the lecturers: They were requested to produce nothing less than "freer, broader, speculative and personal "considerations of the subjects" they had to cover And so they did: their presentations unfolded a fantastic picture, a most fascinating and meaningful identification of the field, its present problems and trends. But participants at...

The workshop entitled "The Role of Cell Interactions in Early Neurogenesis" was held at the Institut d'Etudes Scientifiques in Cargese, Corsica on May 29th to June 3rd, 1983. The setting was ideal for a small meeting whose purpose was to generate as much discussion as possible between the various participants. One of the major topics of this conference was neural induction, that is, the first step in neurogenesis. Neural induction remains poorly understood at the molecular level as compared to the sub- sequent steps of neuronal migration and differentiation. It thus appeared important to...

There are virtually hundreds of life scientists publishing hundreds of papers a year on numerous aspects of the cell cycle. The following are few of the topics covered: cell membrane organization, membrane components, cytoskeleton and associated proteins, cell motility, actin in dividing cells, surface modulating assemblies, microfilaments, microtubules, cleavage furrow, fusion, etc. In all these topics, lifescientists talk about, among others, the forces within the system, the motion within the system and the failure of the system. The concepts of force, motion and failure are, one way or...

This volume contains edited contributions from the speakers at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "DNA Repair Mechanisms and Their Biological Implications in Mammalian Cells" held October 1-6, 1988, at the Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud, Fontevraud France. The meeting was dedicated to Paul Howard-Flanders (Yale University, New Haven, CT., 1919-1988), whose seminal con- tributions to the DNA repair field include the cO-discovery of the excision repair pathway, the elucidation of post-repli- cation repair in E. coli, the isolation of the lexA and recC mutants, and his extensive work on the...

In current thinking, Bioorganic Chemistry may be defined as the area of chemistry which lies in the border region between organic chemistry and biology and which describes and analyzes biological phenomena in terms of detailed molecular structures and molecular mechanisms. This molecular-level view of biological processes is not only essential to their fuller understanding but also serves as the platform for the application of the principles of such processes to areas of health care and technology. The objective of the ASI workshop on " Bioorganic Chemistry in Healthcare and Technology," held...

The Editors are sorry that the production of this volume was delayed by the ill health of one of them and we hope that this does not detract from the value of the con tents. For once this delay is not the fault of any of the authors only the editors are to blame. Many of the workers in the field of fibre toxicology became convinced by the middle 1980's that the worst of the furore over asbestos was over although we were left with an intriguing problem - how does asbestos cause disease? It was expected that the future impact of fibres on human health would be very small since asbestos exposure...

The oncogenic virus can only be studied as a carcinogen when its relation to the host cell in which it resides is understood. The interaction between tumor virus and host cell was the subject of a recent North Atlantic Treaty Organization Advanced Study I stitute. This volume is the edited proceedings of this study institute. One problem of fundamental importance in understanding malignant transformation is the mechanism by which the oncogenic vector promotes the aberrations in the host cell regulatory appara- tus resulting in a cancerous cell. It is partly the purpose of this volume to help...

A NATO Advanced Study Institute on "Phytotoxins in Plant Diseases" was held in Pugnochiuso (Italy) in June 1970. It was concerned mainly with the chemistry and mode of action of substances toxic to higher plants which are produced by pathogenic bacteria and fungi. The role of such substances in specificity was consider- ed but largely in relation to host-specific toxins. In 1973, in light of the success of the 1970 Institute, we decided to plan for another in 1975 and after discussion with col- leagues during the Second International Congress of Plant Pathology, we selected "Specificity in...