Alamethicin is a 20-amino-acid, α-helical antimicrobial peptide that is believed to kill bacteria through pore formation in the inner membranes. In this work, we use a phenomenological model of pore formation in lipid bilayers to interpret experimental results on the interactions of alamethicin with a supported lipid bilayer obtained by quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D). Based on model calculations in conjunction with the QCM-D data, we examine the formation of alamethicin clusters and alamethicin pores in the bilayer as functions of bulk alamethicin concentration in the contacting aqueous phase. We also calculate the peptide-to-lipid ratio (P/L) in the bilayer from QCM-D data as a function of the peptide concentration and compare it against the literature data for vesicle membranes.

Peptide insertion into lipid bilayer creating membrane pores

254th National Meeting (2017)

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