Melittin Induces Local Order Changes in Artificial and Biological Membranes as Revealed by Spectral Analysis of Laurdan Fluorescence.

ABSTRACT: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a class of molecules widely used in applications on eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. Independent of the peptide target, all of them need to first pass or interact with the plasma membrane of the cells. In order to have a better image of the peptide action mechanism with respect to the particular features of the membrane it is necessary to better understand the changes induced by AMPs in the membranes. Laurdan, a lipid membrane probe sensitive to polarity changes in the environment, is used in this study for assessing changes induced by melittin, a well-known peptide, both in model and natural lipid membranes. More importantly, we showed that generalized polarization (GP) values are not always efficient or sufficient to properly characterize the changes in

SUBMITTER: Zorila B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7695215 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature