Analyses of the interaction of antimicrobial peptides halictine and rondonin with membrane models via different methodologies

• Grant number: 13/17762-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: January 01, 2014
• End date: December 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biophysics - Molecular Biophysics
• Principal Investigator: Karin Do Amaral Riske
• Grantee: Tatiana Moreira Domingues
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Several antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been isolated from different species that, in general, utilize these small molecules such as defense strategy against a large range of pathogens. Halictine and rondonin are the PAMs selected for this project, which were initially obtained from invertebrate animals and exhibit lytic activity against fungi, bacteria and also against some tumoral cell lines. Therefore, it would be interesting to compare these new peptides, poorly explored, with the others already well-known in the literature. For this, we will use membrane models as synthetic resources capable of mimicking the essential characteristics of a bilayer, and, thereby, analyzing the steps involved in the peptide/membrane interaction. In these studies, it will be employed, in addition to different peptides, distinct membrane compositions, enabling the creation of a more comprehensive scenario that will be monitored by a variety of techniques: ITC (isothermal titration calorimetry), zeta potential, optical microscopy, light scattering, leakage of carboxyfluorescein (CF), fluorescence spectroscopy and CD (circular dichroism). The differences showed for each peptide will be explored, and, in this way, the different techniques chosen may give information about the binding of these peptides to lipid bilayers. All proposed methodologies will be used in a complementary way and analyzed together, seeking, thus, a detailed and complete action mode of these AMPs in membrane models.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DOMINGUES, TATIANA M.; PEREZ, KATIA R.; RISKE, KARIN A.. Revealing the Mode of Action of Halictine Antimicrobial Peptides: A Comprehensive Study with Model Membranes. Langmuir, v. 36, n. 19, p. 5145-5155, MAY 19 2020. (16/13368-4, 13/17762-0)