Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol.116, No.26, 7652-7659, 2012
Cyclodextrin-Scaffolded Alamethicin with Remarkably Efficient Membrane Permeabilizing Properties and Membrane Current Conductance
Bacterial resistance to classical antibiotics is a antimicrobial peptides represent a potential solution and are serious medical problem, which continues to grow. Small increasingly being developed as novel therapeutic agents. Many of these peptides owe their antibacterial activity to the formation of trans-membrane ion-channels resulting in cell lysis. However, to further develop the field of peptide antibiotics, a thorough understanding of their mechanism of action is needed. Alamethicin belongs to a class of peptides called peptaibols and represents one of these antimicrobial peptides. To examine the dynamics of assembly and to facilitate a thorough structural evaluation of the alamethicin ion-channels, we have applied click chemistry for the synthesis of templated alamethicin multimers covalently attached to cyclodextrin-scaffolds. Using oriented circular dichroism, calcein release assays, and single-channel current measurements, the alpha-helices of the templated multimers were demonstrated to insert into lipid bilayers forming highly efficient and remarkably stable ion-channels.