Abstract

Cation Flux Across Biomembranes documents the proceedings of a symposium on ""Cation Flux across Biomembranes"" sponsored by the Japan Bioenergetics Group, held September 10-13, 1978 at the Inter-University Seminar House of Kansai in Kobe, Japan. The symposium brought together 80 of the leading investigators concerned with ATP-utilizing and ATP-generating systems associated with cation fluxes across membranes to discuss biochemical mechanisms in depth and their relation to cation transport functions.
The papers presented focused on three types of membrane systems. The first two membrane systems are classified as ATP-utilizing systems. These include the plasma membrane, associated with the ATP dependent Na+-K+ transport system, which draws upon most of the cell's energy for cation fluxes; and the sarcoplasmic recticulum membrane associated with Ca++ transport, which plays a key role in excitation-contraction coupling in muscle. The third type of membrane system falls under ATP-generating systems. These include the inner membranes of mitochondria, chloroplasts, and bacteria associated with H+ fluxes generated by oxidation-reduction reactions, and their coupling to secondary ion flows and oxidative and photosynthetic phosphorylation. H+ transport associated with the photoreaction cycle of bacteriorhodopsin, the light energy converted in halobacteria was also considered.