Cholesterols Work as a Molecular Regulator of the Antimicrobial Peptide-Membrane Interactions.

ABSTRACT: The existing cholesterols (Chols) in animal cell membranes play key roles in many fundamental cellular processes, which also promise the possibility to modulate the bioactivity of various membrane-active biomacromolecules. Here, combining dynamic giant unilamellar vesicle leakage experiments and molecular dynamics simulations, the inhibitory effect of Chols on the membrane poration activity of melittin (Mel), a typical natural antimicrobial peptide, is demonstrated. Molecular details of the Mel-Chol interactions in membrane show that, for a Chol-contained lipid membrane, Mel exposure would perturb the symmetric bilayer structure of the membrane and specifically influence the location and orientation distributions of Chol molecules to an asymmetric state between the two leaflets; moreover,

SUBMITTER: Li J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7902056 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature