The papers in this issue were contributed by close friends, the publication of this issue possible. Owing to some un coworkers and pupils ofProfessor Setsuro Ebashi. They are expected troubles ofone ofthe editors (M. E. ) the publication dedicated to him to commemorate his great and pioneering ofthis issue has been greatly delayed, for which he sincerely contribution to the advancement of muscle physiology and apologizes to all the contributors and other editors. We biochemistry, which in course of time exerted a great in believe that this issue reveals the present stateofresearch on fluence on the whole field oflife science. We would like to muscle and/or calcium that had been opened up by Professor express our cordial thanks to an the contributors who made Ebashi. Shoichi Imai, Niigata, Japan Makoto Endo, Saitama, Japan Iwao Ohtsuki, Fakuoka, Japan Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry 190: 3-4, 1999. Dedication Setsuro Ebashi was born in Tokyo on 31st August, 1922. There is aJapanese saying that 'Sandalwood is fragrant even in seed leaf. ' Genius displays itself even in childhood. Finishing the six-year course ofprimary school in five years and the five-year course ofmiddle school in four years, he entered the First High School, the most prestigious high school in Japan, at the age ofonly 15. In July 1942, when he was an undergraduate student of FacultyofMedicine,Tokyo Imperial University (now called University ofTokyo), he by chance visited the laboratory of Dr.

Inhalt
Professor Ebashi's impact on the study of the regulation of striated muscle contraction.- Troponin I: Inhibitor or facilitator.- Calcium ion regulation of muscle contraction: The regulatory role of troponin T.- Thermodynamic analyses of calcium binding to troponin C, calmodulin and parvalbumins by using microcalorimetry.- A strange calmodulin of yeast.- Regulation by molluscan myosins.- The properties and function of invertebrate new muscle protein.- Actin binding proteins that change extent and rate of actin monomer-polymer distribution by different mechanisms.- A phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance study on the complex of chicken gizzard myosin subfragment 1 with adenosine diphosphate.- Interactions of protein phosphatase type 1, with a focus on myosin phosphatase.- Myosin light chain kinase from skeletal muscle regulates an ATP-dependent interaction between actin and myosin by binding to actin.- Ca2+-induced Ca2+ desensitization of myosin light chain phosphorylation and contraction in phasic smooth muscle.- Growing and differentiating characterization of aortic smooth muscle cell line, p53LMAC01 obtained from p53 knock out mice.- Expressional regulation of smooth muscle cell-specific genes in association with phenotypic modulation.- Roles of intracellular Ca2+ receptors in the pancreatic ß-cell in insulin secretion.- Organization of connectin/titin filaments in sarcomeres of differentiating chicken skeletal muscle cells.- Detection of a sequence involved in actin-binding and phosphoinositide-binding in the N-terminal side of cofilin.- Creatine kinase, cell membrane and Duchenne muscular dystrophy.- Structural basis of the function of endothelin receptor.- Stimulation of plasma membrane Ca2+-pump ATPase of vascular smooth muscle by cGMP-dependent proteinkinase: Functional reconstitution with purified proteins.- Chemical modification of an arginine residue in the ATP-binding site of Ca2+-transporting ATPase of sarcoplasmic reticulum by phenylglyoxal.- Intrinsic inhibitor of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate binding.- Dynamic regulation of intracellular calcium signals through calcium release channels.- Comparison of properties of Ca2+ release channels between rabbit and frog skeletal muscles.- Index to Volume 190.