Protein insertion and translocation, intracellular traffic and sorting of membranes and their components, and lipid-protein interactions were the main topics of the Advanced Study Institute on "Molecular Dynamics of Membranes", which was held in June 1995 in Cargese, Corsica, France. The course, co-sponsored by NATO and FEBS, was the fifth in a series that started in 1987 and takes place every two years in the Institut d'Etudes Scientifiques in Cargese. This Institute, ideally situated and fully equiped for this type of scientific meeting has greatly contributed to the great success of the courses. Of course, also the outstanding contributions of a large number of well known scientists and the enthousiastic participation of excellent graduate students and postdocs has given the "Cargese Lectures on Biomembranes" a firm reputation in the scientific community. The present proceedings is more than just a reflection on the information presented in the Course. First of all it contains a number of extensive reviews of specific areas of interest. Noteworthy are the articles dealing with: . the general mechanisms of protein transport, the roles of invariant chain in antigen presentation, protein import and export in E. coli, protein folding and the role of chaperones, chloroplast and mitochondrial protein import, . membrane traffic in general and during mitosis, and with respect to membrane lipids: lipid domain formation, lipases: an extensive review about structure and properties, phospholipase A2 and bioactive lipids, phospholipid transfer proteins, . phospholipid localization and mobility and, finally, new strategies for protein reconstitution.

Inhalt

Mechanisms Involved in Co- and Posttranslational Protein Transport.- Glycosylation Mapping of the Interaction Between Topogenic Sequences and the ER Translocase.- The Various Roles of Invariant Chain in the Act of Antigen Presentation.- Progress Towards the Identification of Secretion Signals in a Protein Transported in a Folded State Across a Lipid Bilayer.- E. coli Preprotein Translocase: a 6 Stroke Engine with 2 Fuels and 2 Piston Rods.- The Tol/PAL and TonB Systems: two Envelope-Spanning Protein Complexes Involved in Colicin Import in E. coli.- In vitro Assembly of Outer Membrane Protein PhoE of E. coli.- Protein Folding the Cell: the Role of Molecular Chaperons.- Thermodynamics of the Membrane Insertion Process of the Ml3 Procoat Protein, a Lipid Bilayer Traversing Protein Comprising a Leader Sequence.- Lipid-Protein Interactions in Chloroplast Protein Import.- Protein Transport Into and Across the Mitochondrial Outer Membrane: Recognition, Insertion and Translocation of Preproteins.- Protein Import Across the Inner Mitochondrial Membrane.- How Mitochondria Recognize and Bind Precursor Proteins at the Surface.- The General Features of Membrane Traffic During Endocytosis in Polarized and Non-Polarized Cells.- Mitotic Fragmentation of the Golgi Apparatus.- Kinetic Measurements of Fusion Between Vesicles Derived from the Endoplasmic Reticulum.- The Sorting of Membrane Proteins During the Formation of ER-Derived Transport Vesicles.- Isolation and Characterization of Yeast Mutants Defective in the Dolichol Pathway for N-Glycosylation.- The Importance of Lipid-Protein Interactions in Signal Transduction Through the Calcium-Phospholipid Second Messenger System.- Covalently Attached Lipid Bilayers on Planar Waveguides for Measuring Protein Binding to Functionalized Membranes.- The Effect of Sterol Side Chain Conformation on Lateral Lipid Domain Formation in Monolayer Membranes.- The Kinetics, Specificities and Structural Features of Lipases.- Phospholipases A2 and the Production of Bioactive Lipids.- Phospholipases in the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.- Functional Analysis of Phosphatidylinositol Tranfer Protiens.- Phosphatidylcholine Biosynthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Effects on Regulation of Phospholipid Synthesis and Respiratory Competence.- Resynthesis of the Cell Surface Pool of Phosphatidylinositol.- The GlcNac-PI de-N-Acetylase of Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) Biosynthesis in Trypanosoma brucei.- Phospholipid Flippases: Neither Exclusively, nor only Involved in Maintaining Membrane Phospholipid Asymmetry.- A New Efficient Strategy to Reconstitute Membrane Proteins into Liposomes: Application to the Study of Ca++-ATPases.- Interaction of Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Proteins with Phospholipid Vesicles.