Physical and antigenic properties of cell membranes. Routes to the organisation of cell surfaces in early embryos

The data on the physical properties of cell-surface membranes are beginning to yield a unified picture of how these membranes are constructed and of how they might function. Application to embryos of ideas about membranes in general is still tentative, but the general principles of membrane function suggest a number of ways in which early differentiation might be directed by alterations in membrane properties.