Biological membranes have been under intensive investigation for several decades. Despite very great experimental challenges, membranes are at last beginning to reveal their secrets. In this book, leading investigators of membrane structure and function report on progress in three related fields: specialization of membrane regions, asymmetry in transport properties, and differentiation of cell faces in epithelia.

"Specialization at the Molecular Level" is the subject of the first section; in it, the authors consider such problems as the biogenesis of membranes, the geometry of...