The papers in this book, illustating the present status of knowledge related to the vacuolar compartment of fungi and plants, were presented at an Advanced Research Workshop entitled "Plant Vacuoles. Their Importance in Plant Cell Compartmentation and their Applications in Biotechnology" held in Sophia-Antipolis, France, on July 6-11, 1986. The organizers were fortunate in being able to assemble representative leaders of all the above fields of research concerning this compartment. These scientists from all over the world were invited to present their latest results and to exchange views and plans for continued research in this highly exciting field, which is very important for the improving the industrial aspect of plant biotechnology related to the production of molecules with a high added value. To ensure maximal flexibility and opportunity for dicussion, the chairmen of the various sessions were asked to introduce their respective topics, after which they were given the freedom of organizing their sessions in a more or less improvised fashion, with brief presentations of relevant new information by participants following a schedule fixed relatively shortly before the workshop. This procedure proved to be highly successful, giving rise to most productive and stimulating discussions among the representatives of the various fields.