Overview

Studies on the elucidation of structure-function relationships in biochemistry and molecular biology started a few decades ago and represent an area of continuing interest. The celebration of the 75th birthday of Alessandro Rossi Fanelli, who has made signi- cant contributions in this field, prompted the organization of a Symposium on 'Structure-Function Relationships in Biochemical Systems' with the aim of bringing together Rossi Fanelli's students and many of the scientists who have been connected with the Institute of Biological Chemistry in Rome. The Symposium was held in Rome on September 28-30, 1981 at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. This volume contains the lectures presented at the Symposium as well as articles covering the main themes of research conducted in Rossi-Fanelli's Institute. The material is divided into five sections: Hemoglobin, Myoglobin and Other Respiratory Proteins; Mechanism of Action of Metal-Containing Enzym s; Bioenergetics, Mem- brane Structure and Multienzyme Complexes; Cofactor-Dependent En- zymes; Sulfur Metabolism. We gratefully acknow edge the generous financial support of the Italian National Research Council and of the University of Rome, which rendered the Symposium possible. We wish to thank all the con- tributors and Maurizio Gattoni, Paolo Gerosa and Mario Sanchioni for their help in the preparation of the illustrative material. Fi- nally we wish to express our gratitude to Professor Rossi Fanelli, the unfailing animator of our Institute; in his honour we happily undertook the task of editing this volume.