Selective binding of polymyxin B to negatively charged lipid monolayers

Abstract

It is demonstrated by direct measurement of surface radioactivity that the cationic polypeptide antibiotic polymyxin B is specifically adsorbed to negatively charged lipid monolayers. The latter attracted the following amounts of the biologically active mono-N[ 14C] acetylpolymyxin B derivative (PX): lipid A from Proteus mirabilis, 0.17; phosphatidic acid, 0.12; phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylserine, 0.11; dicetylphosphate, 0.107; sulfoquinovosyldiglyceride, 0.104; phosphatidylinositol and cardiolipin, 0.095; and phosphatidylethanolamine, 0.017 μg/cm 2. Adsorption of PX to phosphatidylcholine, monogalactosyldiglyceride and stearylamine was almost or completely zero. Total lipids from Escherichia coli adsorbed 0.057 in comparison to 0.051 μg PX/cm 2 of an artificial mixture of phosphatidylethanolamine/phosphatidylglycerol/cardiolipin in the proportions 75 : 25 : 5. The concentration of the surface active PX at the air/water interphase was 0.091 μg/cm 2. These saturation surface concentrations of PXat lipid monolayers were reached at 1 μg/ml bulk concentrations in 2 mM NaCl/1 mM Tris · HCl, pH 7.2. They decreased with decreasing surface charge density of the adsorbing monolayer. In an experiment with cardiolipin/phosphatidylethanolamine mixtures it was shown that two molecules of cardiolipin induced adsorption of one molecule PX giving a 1 : 1 ratio with regard to positive and negative charges. This could be due to a similar charge density of about one charge per 40–50 Å 2 in PX and lipid bilayers composed of phospholipids. The electrostatic PX-lipid interaction was severely inhibited by 10 −2 and 10 −1 M Ca 2+ and Na +, respectively. It is discussed that the specificity of PX against Gram-negative bacteria is caused by the occurrence of lipid A, phosphatidylglycerol and cardiolipin at the cell surface of these microorganisms.