title: Interactions of alamethicin with model cell membranes investigated using sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy in real time in situ.
abstract: Structures of membrane-associated peptides and molecular interactions between peptides and cell membrane bilayers govern biological functions of these peptides. Sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy has been demonstrated to be a powerful technique to study such structures and interactions at the molecular level. In this research, SFG has been applied, supplemented by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), to characterize the interactions between alamethicin (a model for larger channel proteins) and different lipid bilayers in the absence of membrane potential. The orientation of alamethicin in lipid bilayers has been determined using SFG amide I spectra detected with different polarization combinations. It was found that alamethicin adopts a mixed alpha-helical and 3(10)-helical structure in fluid-phase lipid bilayers. The helix (mainly alpha-helix) at the N-terminus tilts at about 63 degrees versus the surface normal in a fluid-phase 1,2-dimyristoyl-d54-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine-1,1,2,2-d4-N,N,N-trimethyl-d9 (d-DMPC)/1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) bilayer. The 3(10)-helix at the C-terminus (beyond the Pro14 residue) tilts at about 43 degrees versus the surface normal. This is the first time to apply SFG to study a 3(10)-helix experimentally. When interacting with a gel-phase lipid bilayer, alamethicin lies down on the gel-phase bilayer surface or aggregates or both, which does not have significant insertion into the lipid bilayer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Khoi Tan
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Zhan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000408:Alamethicin / Q000737:chemistry*; D004134:Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine / Q000737:chemistry; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines / Q000737:chemistry; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D014732:Vibration
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines; D000408:Alamethicin; C028694:1-palmitoyl-2-oleoylphosphatidylcholine; D004134:Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine