Lipid Bilayer Composition Influences the Activity of the Antimicrobial Peptide Dermcidin Channel.

ABSTRACT: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) carry great potential as new antibiotics against "superbugs." Dermcidin (DCD), a broad-spectrum AMP in human sweat, has been recently crystallized in its oligomeric state and showed channel-like properties. In this work, we performed multiscale molecular dynamics simulations to study how the membrane composition influences the behavior of a transmembrane pore formed by the DCD oligomer in the hope of revealing the origin of the membrane selectivity of this AMP toward bacteria. Our results indicate that bilayers composed of various lipids (DMPC, DPPC, and DSPC) with different thicknesses result in different orientations of the DCD oligomer when embedded in lipid bilayers. The thicker the bilayer, the less tilted the channel. Cholesterol makes the bilayers more

SUBMITTER: Song C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6506697 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature