Biological membranes are often effected by diseases. Molecular events leading to or arising from pathological changes in the course of different diseases are as yet not clearly understood. This competent study by leading experts covers changes of the cellular environment, membranes and the metabolic functions during tissue growth and differentiation as well as aspects of abnormal organelle function in lysosomal storage diseases, peroxisomal and mitochondrial disorders, enzyme defects and regulatory defects of receptors due to oncogenes.

Every year, the Federation of European Biochemical Societies sponsors a series of Advanced Courses designed to acquaint postgraduate students and young postdoctoral fellows with theoretical and practical aspects of topics of current interest in biochemistry, particularly within areas in which significant advances are being made. This volume contains the Proceedings of FEBS Advanced Course No. 88-02 held in Bari, Italy on the topic "Organelles of Eukaryotic Cells: Molecular Structure and Interactions. " It was a deliberate decision of the organizers not to restrict FEBS Advanced Course 88-02 to a discussion of a single organelle or a single aspect but to cover a broad area. One of the objectives of the course was to compare different organelles in order to allow the participants to discern recurrent themes which would illustrate that a basic unity exists in spite of the diversity. A second objective of the course was to acquaint the participants with the latest experimental approaches being used by in vestigators to study different organelles; this would illustrate that methodologies developed for studying the biogenesis of the structure-function relationships in one organelle can often be applied fruitfully to investi gate such aspects in other organelles. A third objective was to impress upon the participants that a study of the interaction between different organelles is intrinsic to understanding their physiological functions. This volume is divided into five sections. Part I is entitled "Structure and Organization of Intracellular Organelles."

In order to provide a functional organisation of the various biochemical processes, the intracellular environment is subdivided into compartments formed by organelles. Mitochondria serve to restore energy-rich compounds, while energy is mainly consumed in the cytosolic space. Molecules involved in these metabolic cycles have to cross the mitochondrial membrane via specialized carriers embedded in the inner mitochondrial membrane. All relevant structural and functional aspects of the Anion Carriers of Mitochondrial Membranes as well as isolation procedures, reconstitution experiments and biogenesis of the carriers, kinetics of transport as well as the metabolic regulation mechanisms are treated in this volume.

This manual on "Dynamics of Membrane Proteins and Cellular Energetics" is the result of a FEBS-CNRS Course held in Grenoble and Besanc;{on in September 1987.' It appears to be, after the first, published in 1979 the fifth of the series. After focussing on the "Biochemistry of Membranes" (1979) it was the turn of "Membrane Proteins" (1981) and of Enzymes, Receptors and Carriers of Biological Membranes (1983), fo1- wed by "Membrane Proteins Isolation and Characterization" ( 1986) . Al though the central issue has always been the its components and its functions, each biological membrane, manual has put the accent on somewhat different issues corresponding to the most innovative, interesting research in the field. After almost a decade this new manual appears, which stresses the aspect of the integration of membrane research at a cellular level. Such a novel emphasis is the consequence of the common interest of cell biology and biochemistry to understand the results of the biochemical analysis of membrane proteins in the context of the cell complexity. Consequently most of the experimental protocols are dealing with cellular models, but with clear reference to the function and structure of isolated membrane proteins.

This volume is the third of a series on Membrane Proteins and, like the pre ceding manuals, is the result of an International Advanced Course entitled Isolation and Characterization of Membrane Proteins: Biochemical and Bio physical Aspects sponsored by the Federation of European Biochemical So cieties (FEBS) and the Italian Research Council (CNR). The success of the course and the continuous development in the field of membrane biology has prompted me to publish also in this case the protocols of the experiments which were carried out by the students. The students have been able not only to perform the experiments pub lished in this manual without help from the instructors, but also to suggest improvements, which have been incorporated in the published version. Care has been taken in making the planning and the execution of the ex periments as simple as possible, by listing in detail all the necessary pieces of equipment, test tubes, pipettes, chemicals, etc. At the same time the intro duction and the "philosophy" have been limited to the essential, as also the references, only those having been listed which may help in a better under standing of the principles and of the biological background of a given experi ment."