Permeability of Biological Membranes

This book dealswith biological membranes, focuses on permeabilization and pays particularattention to reversible permeabilization to maintain the viability andphysiological conditions of the cells. Selectivepermeability of biological membranes also known as semipermeability, partialpermeability or differential permeability allows molecules to diffuse, pass bypassive and active or by other types of transport processes mediated byproteins. The firstchapter of the book deals with the composition of biological membranes,characterizes cellular membranes of prokaryotic, eukaryotic cells, membranes ofcellular organelles and the function of biological membranes. The second chapter provides an overview of bilayerpermeability, selectivity of permeabilization and cellular transportprocesses. Chapter3 overviews different cell manipulations that aim to make cells permeable whilemaintaining not only the structural but also the functional integrity of cells. The last chapter deals with applications, particularly withreversible permeabilization to study macromolecular (DNA, RNA, poly-ADP ribose)biosynthetic processes, replication, gene expression, visualization ofreplicons, intermediates of chromosome condensation, genotoxic chromatinchanges, upon treatment with heavy metals and different types of  irradiation. The interdisciplinaryaspects of the book contribute to the understanding of the structure of nucleicacids, replicative intermediates, Okazaki fragments, RNA primer mechanism,subphases of replication and repair synthesis, replicons, gene expression,chromosome condensation generated a wealth of information that will attract awide readership. The natural audience engaged in DNA research, includinggenetics, cell and molecular biology, chemistry, biochemistry, medicine,pharmacy will find essential material in the book.