Vectorial Reactions in Electron and Ion Transport in Mitochondria and Bacteria [antikvár]

PREFACE This volume contains the proceedings of theProceedings of the International Symposium on Vectorial Reactions in Electron and Ion Transport in Mitochondria and Bacteria which was held at Selva di Fasano, near Bari, Italy, between May 19 and 22, 1981. This symposium is the thirteenth of the 'Bari Meetings' that began in Bari in 1965 with the symposium Regutation ofi Hctockond/UaZ PJioceAóeA in htitockondsUa., and have been held, at first every year in the Bari area, more recently every other year alternately in the Bari and the Padua areas. Si nee the establishment of the European Bioenergetics Congresses (EBEC), the first of which was held in Urbino, Italy in 1980, which, through the IUB-IUPAC Bioenergetics Groups, are co-ordinated with the Gordon Conferences on Bioenergetics in the U.S.A., the question has arisen whether the 'Bari meetings' should be continued. The orga-nizers feel that there is still room for the old-style 'Bari meetings', on a limited topic, with emphasis on the presentation not only of posters but also of papers by the younger members of the biochemical community, alongside the larger (both with respect to'scope and number of participants) EBEC and Gordon conferences. A number of the leaders in the European bioenergetic community first came to the fore at one or other of the 'Bari meetings', and we are confident that the meeting at Selva di Fasano will continue this tradition. The first Bari meeting was also the first occasion on which Peter Mitchell presented to an international audience the chemiosmotic hypothesis, which was received with great interest but also with some scepticism. One of us even accused Mitchell of trying both to have his-cake and to eat it. However, this same person also admitted that 'attempts to isolate compounds with the proper-ties expected of the high-energy intermediate have met with conspicuous non-success'. Now, sixteen years later, chemiosmosis has been transformed from a hypothesis to a theory and perhaps to the First Law of Bioenergetics. In any case, the reality and importance of vectorial reactions across an energy-transducing membrane are clearly established, and discussion now centres on the mechanism of these reactions. In accordance with the policy of the 'Bari meetings', a selection had to be made of those vectorial reactions that would be discussed exhaustively. The choice feil on cytochrome c oxidase and Q^: cytochrome c oxidoreductase, concerning which a large amount of relevant new structural information has accumuiated in recent years. Much attention was given to the evidence that has accumuiated indicating that cytochrome oxidase is a proton pump, although this is not (yet?) accepted by all workers in the field. Bacteriorhodopsin and the