This book presents the proceedings of the 2nd meeting on "Enzymes of Lipid Metabolism" which took place in Strasbourg in October, 1985. It is a sequel to the first conference bearing this title which took place, also in the vicinity of Strasbourg, in March, 1977. In either case the meetings were coorganized by L. Freysz of Strasbourg, France and S. Gatt of Jerusalem, Israel. The present meeting was set up as a joint NATO Advanced Research Workshop and CNRS-INSERM International Symposium. The conference was guided by two principles, namely, that science has no bounderies, neither has the study of lipid metabolism. Participants came from Europe, the USA, Israel and Japan and represented areas of research in lipid metabolism involving fatty acid s, cholesterylesters, glycero-and sphingolipids. The experimental approaches utilized purified enzymes, artificial and biological membranes, as well as a variety of cells, primary or cultured lines. A session was also devoted to modification of lipid enzymes and metabolism resulting from inherited, inborn defects such as the lipid storage diseases which are caused by genetic modification of degradative enzymes of lipid metabolism.
A second type of disease stemming from a defect in a cell organnel (ie, the peroxisome) was also discussed. The eight and one and a half years which elapsed since the previous meeting, highlighted the changing emphasis of research in. lipid metabolism.