The Biochemistry of Parasites

The Biochemistry of Parasites documents the proceedings of the Satellite Conference of the 13th Meeting of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) held in Jerusalem, August 1980. The conference presented the opportunity to summarize work done by parasite biochemists and introduce this field to workers in classical biochemistry. The 45 papers in this volume are divided into two sections covering parasite biomembranes and parasite metabolism. The papers in the biomembranes section are further divided in two parts: the parasite membrane (Part I) and adherence of the parasite to host tissues (Part II). Part I is concerned with both classical and novel aspects of membrane structure and function. It includes studies on the membrane of the leishmania; the surface coat of trypanosomes; membrane function; and transport across the cell membrane. Part II covers topics such as the adherence of pathenogenic microorganisms and the importance of of carbohydrates in parasite-host adherence. The papers in the parasite metabolism section focus primarily on three groups of parasites: leishmania, malaria, and helminthes. Topics covered include the isolation and characterization of a proteolytic enzyme from Plasmodium lophurae (duck malaria); the selection and culture of malaria parasites resistant to aminopterin; and regulation of cyclic AMP metabolism in Leishmania promastigotes and amastigotes.