Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Interaction between Indolicidin and an Asymmetric Membrane

Authors

  • Peicho Petkov University of Sofia "St. Kliment Ohridski" Faculty of Physics Atomic Physics Department
  • Rositsa Marinova* University of Sofia "St. Kliment Ohridski" Faculty of Physics Atomic Physics Department
  • Leandar Litov University of Sofia "St. Kliment Ohridski" Faculty of Physics Atomic Physics Department

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11145/462

Abstract

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a component of the innate immune system. TheyВ areВ  small proteins with broad spectrum antimicrobial activity against bacteria,В viruses and fungi. As such, they must interact with pathogenic membranes, eitherВ through translocation or by disrupting their structural integrity [1]. ToВ understand how this peptides permeabilize bacterial membrane, we performedВ coarse-grained simulation, using MARTINI force field. We studied the interactionВ between the 13-residue cationic peptide indolicidin, isolated from cytoplasmicВ granules of bovine neutrophils with different types of membranes. Indolicidin isВ an intensively studied antimicrobial peptide. This very efficient antimicrobialВ agent is the shortest natural AMPs and has a large proportion of tryptophanВ residues (39%) of any known protein. Furthermore, it exhibits activity againstВ Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, but it does not lyse the bacterialВ cells [2]. В We investigated indolicidin interactions with both symmetric and asymmetricВ bilayers consisting of POPE and POPG lipids. In the former case, the peptideВ penetrate the membrane, but in the latter this process is faster and it inducesВ reorganization of the bilayer, after forming a pore and crossing the membrane.В We also examined the effect ofВ  indolicidin concentration on the morphology ofВ the membrane.

Downloads

Published

2015-04-23

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2015)

Section

Conference Contributions

License

The journal Biomath Communications is an open access journal. All published articles are immeditely available online and the respective DOI link activated. All articles can be access for free and no reader registration of any sort is required. No fees are charged to authors for article submission or processing. Online publications are funded through volunteer work, donations and grants.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  • Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).