Fluctuations and the rate-limiting step of peptide-induced membrane leakage.

ABSTRACT: Peptide-induced vesicle leakage is a common experimental test for the membrane-perturbing activity of antimicrobial peptides. The leakage kinetics is usually very slow, requiring minutes to hours for complete release of vesicle contents, and exhibits a biphasic behavior. We report here that, in the case of the peptaibol trichogin GA IV, all processes involved in peptide-membrane interaction, such as peptide-membrane association, peptide aggregation, and peptide translocation, take place on a timescale much shorter than the leakage kinetics. On the basis of these findings, we propose a stochastic model in which the leakage kinetics is determined by the discrete nature of a vesicle suspension: peptides are continuously exchanging among vesicles, producing significant fluctuations over time i

SUBMITTER: Mazzuca C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2941025 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature