title: The lipid dependence of antimicrobial peptide activity is an unreliable experimental test for different pore models.
abstract: Antimicrobial peptides usually kill bacteria by making their membranes permeable. Two main models (barrel-stave and Shai-Matsuzaki-Huang) have been proposed to describe the peptide-induced pores. Although several experimental tests can be exploited to discriminate between these two models, the dependence of peptide activity on lipid properties (intrinsic curvature and membrane thickness) is routinely used for this purpose. Here, we show that, contrary to what is currently accepted, this criterion is unreliable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Sciences and Technologies, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bobone
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Roversi
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Giordano
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Zotti
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Formaggio
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Toniolo
authors.forename: Yoonkyung
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stella
mesh_terms: D000408:Alamethicin / Q000737:chemistry; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D005452:Fluoresceins / Q000737:chemistry; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry*; D008081:Liposomes / Q000737:chemistry; D008566:Membranes / Q000187:drug effects; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D005452:Fluoresceins; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D008081:Liposomes; D010455:Peptides; D000408:Alamethicin; C024098:6-carboxyfluorescein; C071123:mastoparan X