The lipid dependence of antimicrobial peptide activity is an unreliable experimental test for different pore models

Sara Bobone; Daniela Roversi; Lorenzo Giordano; Marta De Zotti; Fernando Formaggio; Claudio Toniolo; Yoonkyung Park; Lorenzo Stella

doi:10.1021/bi3015086

The lipid dependence of antimicrobial peptide activity is an unreliable experimental test for different pore models

Biochemistry. 2012 Dec 21;51(51):10124-6. doi: 10.1021/bi3015086. Epub 2012 Dec 13.

Authors

Sara Bobone¹, Daniela Roversi, Lorenzo Giordano, Marta De Zotti, Fernando Formaggio, Claudio Toniolo, Yoonkyung Park, Lorenzo Stella

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemical Sciences and Technologies, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy.

PMID: 23228161
DOI: 10.1021/bi3015086

Abstract

Antimicrobial peptides usually kill bacteria by making their membranes permeable. Two main models (barrel-stave and Shai-Matsuzaki-Huang) have been proposed to describe the peptide-induced pores. Although several experimental tests can be exploited to discriminate between these two models, the dependence of peptide activity on lipid properties (intrinsic curvature and membrane thickness) is routinely used for this purpose. Here, we show that, contrary to what is currently accepted, this criterion is unreliable.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Alamethicin / chemistry
Anti-Infective Agents
Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / chemistry*
Fluoresceins / chemistry
Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins
Lipid Bilayers / chemistry*
Liposomes / chemistry
Membranes / drug effects
Models, Theoretical
Peptides / chemistry
Peptides / pharmacology

Substances

Anti-Infective Agents
Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides
Fluoresceins
Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins
Lipid Bilayers
Liposomes
Peptides
Alamethicin
6-carboxyfluorescein
mastoparan X