Interaction of a Histidine-Rich Antimicrobial Saliva Peptide with Model Cell Membranes: The Role of Histidines.

ABSTRACT: Histatin 5 is a histidine-rich, intrinsically disordered, multifunctional saliva protein known to act as a first line of defense against oral candidiasis caused by Candida albicans. An earlier study showed that, upon interaction with a common model bilayer, a protein cushion spontaneously forms underneath the bilayer. Our hypothesis is that this effect is of electrostatic origin and that the observed behavior is due to proton charge fluctuations of the histidines, promoting attractive electrostatic interactions between the positively charged proteins and the anionic surfaces, with concomitant counterion release. Here we are investigating the role of the histidines in more detail by defining a library of variants of the peptide, where the former have been replaced by the pH-insensiti

SUBMITTER: Skog AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10249418 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature