This book provides an account of the recent advances in our understanding of the role of proteases under physiological and pathological conditions. It reviews the contributions that have been made in the fields of biochemistry, molecular biology, medicine, agriculture and ecology. In addition there is an account of the growing number of practical applications in biotechnology, reflecting the fact that peptidases are major targets for medical and agricultural purposes. The book shows how the numerous protease structures are essential for drug design. The contributions place special emphasis on cysteine, aspartic and metalloproteases and their role in physiological and certain pathological states. Another focus is the classification and nomenclature of peptidases and a review of those proteases currently under the most intensive investigation. The book provides an informative introduction for teachers and newcomers to the field, such as graduate students, while providing a valuable source of material and ideas for the academic and industrial researcher in areas including biochemistry, medicine, agriculture and biotechnology.

This book contains most of the papers presented . at the Second International Symposium on Intracellular Protein OItaboiism, which was held on May 26-30,1975 in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia. The papers presented in this book cover a wide variety of areas related to protein turnover and responsible enzymes. The symposium attracted about one hundred parti cipants, and the cordial atmosphere, the frank discussions and the exchange of ideas were a stimulant for all those attending_ During the last decade, investigations in the wide field of intracellular protein catabolism have been rapidly taken up in many laboratories, because the mechanisms and regulation of degradative processes are rather less studied compared to synthetic processes. In view of this increased interest, Prof. H. Hanson and his coworkers organized the First Interna tional Symposium and the papers presented there were published in the book Intracellular Protein Catabolism, edited by H. Hanson and P. Bohley. In the preface of this book they concluded: "We hope, however, the symposium as well as the book will be the beginning of a series of symposia and their publication concerning intracellular protein catabolism. " We would like to express our thanks for financial support provided by the Research Council of Slovenia. Special thanks are due to the organizing committee of the symposium, and to Dr. I. Kregar and particularly Dr. J. Babnik for their efforts in preparing manuscripts for the publishers."

This book provides an account of the recent advances in our understanding of the role of proteases under physiological and pathological conditions. It reviews the contributions that have been made in the fields of biochemistry, molecular biology, medicine, agriculture and ecology. In addition there is an account of the growing number of practical applications in biotechnology, reflecting the fact that peptidases are major targets for medical and agricultural purposes. The book shows how the numerous protease structures are essential for drug design. The contributions place special emphasis on cysteine, aspartic and metalloproteases and their role in physiological and certain pathological states. Another focus is the classification and nomenclature of peptidases and a review of those proteases currently under the most intensive investigation. The book provides an informative introduction for teachers and newcomers to the field, such as graduate students, while providing a valuable source of material and ideas for the academic and industrial researcher in areas including biochemistry, medicine, agriculture and biotechnology.