Preface

The first EMBO-issue was published in 1979 as nos l and 2 of Volume 5 of our journal. It presented a number of papers and the complete set of abstracts contributed to an EMBO-Workshop on Eukaryotic Messenger RNA and RNP, held in Hapert (The Netherlands) in the fall of 1978. As judged by the reactions of a great number of readers this.special issue was highly appreciated. For this reason we decided to bring out a second EMBO-issue containing a variety of lectures, extended abstracts, and summaries, submitted to the EMBO-Workshop on the Formation of Messenger RNA held in Arolla (Switzerland) from August 18-22, 1980. Again the presentations of various investigators gave a good picture of the present insight into gene organization and expression. Some attention has also been paid to the not yet fully understood role of the nuclear matrix in processing and transport of RNA and the part played by the cytoskeleton in protein biosynthesis. As in the first EMBO-issue, routine refereeing was not applied in this issue. For this reason the Editorial Board of Molecular Biology Reports cannot take full responsibility for ideas put forward, conclusions drawn, and statements made in individual papers and abstracts. Nevertheless, it is hoped that this special issue will be useful in particular to younger scientists in the field, because it provides a ready access to current ideas in molecular biology. Moreover, it offers critical evaluations of the direction that this exciting field seems to take and hopefully provokes re-orientation of the experienced scientists when appropriate. Hans BIoemendal