The aim of "The Adhesive Interaction of Cells" has been to assemble a series of reviews by leading international experts embracing many of the most important recent developments in this rapidly expanding field. The purpose of all biological research is to understand the form and function of living organisms and, by comprehending the normal, to find explanations and remedies for the abnormal and for disease conditions. The molecules involved in cell adhesion are of fundamental importance to the structure and function of all multicellular organisms. In this book, the contributors focus on the...

The complementary binding of a ligand and receptor is the basic language of intercellular communication and this book takes a broad look at the current status of research on receptors in higher and lower plants. It starts with a discussion of some hormone receptors (auxins, ethylene and gibberellin) in higher plants, and then considers the role of cyclic AMP and its receptors in the slime mould Dictyostelium. Authoritative accounts of our present knowledge of several 'adhesive' phenomena are also given. These include fertilization in higher plants and yeasts, the infection of protoplasts by...

1. 1. Aspects of development. usually competent to develop in several differ If you have been fortunate enough to see a fIlm ent ways. Thus the mesenchyme cells of the of the development of any multicellular organ embryonic chick limb bud may become, among ism or, better still, to watch live embyros devel other things, muscle or cartilage cells. Differen oping, the intricate beauty of the developmental tiation is largely an intracellular process involv process will not have escaped you: nor will its ing the appearance of cells with certain bio complexity. Apparent complexity, however, is...