Issue October 2001

category image Volume 19
No. 2 (p 193-364)
October 2001
ISSN 0739-1102

Structure Stability of Lytic Peptides During Their Interactions With Lipid Bilayers (p. 193-200)

In this work, molecular dynamics simulations were used to examine the consequences of a variety of analogs of cecropin A on lipid bilayers. Analog sequences were constructed by replacing either the N- or C-terminal helix with the other helix in native or reverse sequence order, by making palindromic peptides based on both the N- and C-terminal helices, and by deleting the hinge region. The structure of the peptides was monitored throughout the simulation. The hinge region appeared not to assist in maintaining helical structure but help in motion flexibility. In general, the N-terminal helix of peptides was less stable than the C-terminal one during the interaction with anionic lipid bilayers. Sequences with hydrophobic helices tended to regain helical structure after an initial loss while sequences with amphipathic helices were less able to do this. The results suggests that hydrophobic design peptides have a high structural stability in an anionic membrane and are the candidates for experimental investigation.

Hueih Min Chen*
Cheng-Hao Lee1

Institute of BioAgricultural Sciences
Academia Sinica
Nankang, Taipei, Taiwan 115
1Department of Biochemistry
Hong Kong University
Science and Technology
Clear Water Bay
Kowloon, Hong Kong
*robell@gate.sinica.edu.tw

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