Mechanical rigidity of bacterial membrane models: effects of lipids and peptides probed by MD

Abstract

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are membrane-targeting short sequence peptides that have potential for the development of new antibiotics. AMPs are generally cationic, and target negatively charged bacterial membranes, resulting in their disruption. The multiple peptide resistance factor (MprF) protein reduces AMP binding to bacterial membranes via the conversion of anionic phosphatidylglycerol (PG) lipids into either zwitterionic Alanyl-phosphatidylglycerol (Ala-PG) or cationic Lysyl-phosphatidylglycerol (Lys-PG) lipids, reducing the negative surface charge present on the membrane.