Book Description

The central themes of Cell Boundaries concern the structural and organizational principles underlying cell membranes, and how these principles enable function. By building a biological and biophysical foundation for understanding the organization of lipids in bilayers and the folding, assembly, stability, and function of membrane proteins, the book aims to broaden the knowledge of bioscience students to include the basic physics and physical chemistry that inform us about membranes. In doing so, it is hoped that physics students will find familiar territory that will lead them to an interest in biology. Our progress toward understanding membranes and membrane proteins depends strongly upon the concerted use of both biology and physics. It is important for students to know not only what we know, but how we have come to know it, so Cell Boundaries endeavours to bring out the history behind the central discoveries, especially in the early chapters, where the foundation is laid for later chapters. Science is far more interesting if, as students, we can appreciate and share in the adventures—and misadventures—of discovering new scientific knowledge.

Cell Boundaries was written with advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students in the biological and physical sciences in mind, though this textbook will likely have appeal to researchers and other academics as well.

• Highlights the history of important central discoveries
• Early chapters lay the foundation for later chapters to build on, so knowledge is amassed
• High-quality line diagrams illustrate key concepts and illuminate molecular mechanisms
• Box features and spreads expand on topics in main text, including histories of discoveries, special techniques, and applications

Table of Contents

0. The E Words  1. Foundations of Membrane Structure  2. Lipid Bilayers  3. Interactions of Peptides with Lipid Bilayers  4. Membrane Protein Folding & Stability  5. Protein Trafficking in Cells  6. Biosynthesis and Assembly of Membrane Proteins  7. How Proteins Shape Membranes  8. Membrane Protein Bioinformatics  9. Primer on Biomolecular Structure Determination  10. Small-Molecule Channels  11. Ion Channels  12. Primary Transporters: Transport Against Electrical and Chemical Gradients  13. Secondary Transport  14. Bioenergetics  15. Information Transfer: Signaling in Cells 

Author(s)

Stephen H. White is Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at University of California at Irvine. 

Gunnar von Heijne is Professor in Biochemistry and Biophysics at Stockholm University.

Donald M. Engelman is Eugene Higgins Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University.