This is the first book covering all aspects of the plant plasma membrane, thus presenting a comprehensive overview of the entire field. For everyone involved in plant cell research this book will serve equally well as a valid handbook. For each subject area an internationally recognized expert has been chosen to give his/her personal view of the present state of knowledge in the particular area including all relevant, newly developed techniques. To give an integrated picture of the plasma membrane these separate chapters have been rigorously edited by Larsson and Moller, themselves experts in the field of biochemistry of plasma membranes. This review discusses the results concerning molecular composition and organization of the plasma membrane, in particular the problem of plasma membrane markers, methods of membrane isolation and cytochemical approaches are discussed as well as topics such as redox systems, ATPases and transport in plasma membrane vesicles, patch clamp technique, signal transduction, coated pits, cellulose synthesis and plasma membrane/cytoskeleton interactions. The role of plasma membranes in the adaptation to cold and frost, during infection by pathogens and in symbiosis is addressed. A final chapter outlining molecular biological perspectives complements this overview.