• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.507-516
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• 2005

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been isolated and characterized from tissues and organisms representing virtually every kingdom and phylum. Their amino acid composition, amphipathicity, cationic charge, and size allow them to attach to and insert into membrane bilayers to form pores by 'barrel-stave', 'carpet' or 'toroidal-pore' mechanisms. Although these models are helpful for defining mechanisms of AMP activity, their relevance to resolving how peptides damage and kill microorganisms still needs to be clarified. Moreover, many AMPs employ sophisticated and dynamic mechanisms of action to carry out their likely roles in antimicrobial host defense. Recently, it has been speculated that transmembrane pore formation is not the only mechanism of microbial killing by AMPs. In fact, several observations suggest that translocated AMPs can alter cytoplasmic membrane septum formation, reduce cell-wall, nucleic acid, and protein synthesis, and inhibit enzymatic activity. In this review, we present the structures of several AMPs as well as models of how AMPs induce pore formation. AMPs have received special attention as a possible alternative way to combat antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. It may be possible to design synthetic AMPs with enhanced activity for microbial cells, especially those with antibiotic resistance, as well as synergistic effects with conventional antibiotic agents that lack cytotoxic or hemolytic activity.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.183-191
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• 2010

The phase changes of 1-palmitoyl-$d_{31}$-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (POPC_$d_{31}$) bilayers distorted by an antimicrobial peptide, a magainin 2 or an aurein 3.3 were investigated by using $^2H$ solid-state NMR (SSNMR) spectroscopy. From the theoretical simulation of the experimental $^2H$ solid-state NMR spectra the geometric structure constants and the lateral diffusion coefficients were obtained in the peptide-lipid mixture phases. Within five days of the peptide action on the lipid bilayers only the distorted alignment of the bilayers were measured but after 100 days an elliptic toroidal pore structure and an inverted hexagonal phase were formed in the presence of magainin 2 and aurein 3.3, respectively. In order to investigate the effect of an anionic lipid molecule on the actions of two peptides on the lipid bilayer, the same experiments were performed on the POPC_$d_{31}$/1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylglycerol (POPG) bilayer and the significant differences in the actions of two peptides on two bilayers of POPC_$d_{31}$ and POPC_$d_{31}$/POPG were measured.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.372-378
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• 2010

Membrane disruption by an antimicrobial peptide, protegrin-1 (PG-1), was investigated by measuring the $^2H$ solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) spectra of 1-palmitoyl-$d_{31}$-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (POPC_$d_{31}$) in the mixture of PG-1 and POPC_$d_{31}$ lipids deposited on thin cover-glass plates. The experimental line shapes of anisotropic $^2H$ SSNMR spectra measured at various peptide-to-lipid (P/L) ratios were simulated reasonably by assuming the mosaic spread of bilayers containing pore structures or the coexistence of the mosaic spread of bilayers and a fast-tumbling isotropic phase. Within a few days of incubation in the hydration chamber, the pores were formed by the peptide in the POPC_$d_{31}$ and POPC_$d_{31}$/cholesterol membranes. However, the formation of the pores was not clear in the POPC_$d_{31}$/1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylglycerol (POPG) membrane. Over a hundred days after hydration, a rapidly rotating isotropic phase increased in the POPC_$d_{31}$ and the POPC_$d_{31}$/cholesterol membranes with the higher P/L ratios, but no isotropic phase appeared in the POPC_$d_{31}$/POPG membrane. Cholesterol added in the POPC bilayer acted as a stabilizer of the pore structure and suppressed the formation of a fast-tumbling isotropic phase.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.61-66
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• 2013

The activity of an antimicrobial peptide, protegrin-1, on the well-aligned lipid bilayer deposited on a thin coverglass plate was investigated by $^2H$ solid-state NMR spectroscopy. Orientational distribution and molecular motion in the lipid bilayer were determined from $^2H$ solid-state NMR spectrum. Reorientational motion of lipid molecules in the vacuum-dried state was found to be small but their orientational distribution was not able to be determined. As storage times were longer, the order of the alignment of lipid molecules in the lipid bilayer and percentages involved in the toroidal pore structures increased. We found that much longer time is required to get the equilibrium state of the peptide-lipid mixture under our experimental condition for investigating the action of the antimicrobial peptide like protegrin-1 on the lipid bilayers deposited on the thin coverglass plates.