Membrane-Peptide Interactions

Membrane-Peptide Interactions
Author: Nuno C Santos
Publisher:
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2020-09-16
Genre:
ISBN: 9783039430222

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This book summarizes the importance of peptide-membrane interactions, mostly aiming at developing new therapeutic approaches. The experimental and computational methodologies used to investigate such interactions reveal the evolution of existing biophysical methodologies, shedding some light on potential applications of peptides, as well as on the improvement of their design. Understanding the determinants for peptide-membrane interactions may also improve the knowledge of membrane functions such as the membrane transport, fusion, and signaling processes, contributing to the development of new agents for highly relevant applications ranging from disease treatment to food technology.

Membrane-active Peptides

Membrane-active Peptides
Author: Miguel A. R. B. Castanho
Publisher: Internat'l University Line
Total Pages: 675
Release: 2010
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0972077456

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De Novo Peptide Design

De Novo Peptide Design
Author: Vibin Ramakrishnan
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2022-09-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0323985432

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De novo Peptide Design: Principles and Applications presents the latest developments in the fields of therapeutic peptides and bio-nanotechnology. The title focuses on the design of peptides, particularly how peptides may be tailored to specific functions. It includes computational and experimental protocols to assist in the design of peptides. Sections cover the basics of protein and peptide structure, modeling and simulation, solid phase peptide synthesis, peptide-based antibiotics, drug delivery, peptide nanomaterials, aromatic interactions directing nano-assembly, protein/peptide aggregation, therapeutic interventions against protein/peptide aggregation diseases, peptide based hydrogels, computational tools and algorithms for peptide design, and experimental protocols in peptide chemistry. In addition, the book covers key aspects in peptide design, providing a solution for researchers working within the 'peptidic universe' to create new therapeutic agents. Gives comprehensive coverage, including peptide design, modeling, synthesis and applications Presents emerging topics in the design of peptide-based therapeutics Details the latest developments in the fields of therapeutic peptides and bio-nanotechnology Considers peptide design and the tailoring of peptides to specific functions Offers computational tools and algorithms for peptide design and experimental protocols for peptide chemistry

Synthesis, Organization and Structural Studies of Peptide Motifs Interacting with Membrane Systems

Synthesis, Organization and Structural Studies of Peptide Motifs Interacting with Membrane Systems
Author: Philipp E. Schneggenburger
Publisher:
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2010
Genre:
ISBN: 9783839167120

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Proteins in biological membranes represent up to 30% of all proteins in sequenced genomes. While certain membrane proteins are functional as monomers others need to assemble into oligomeric structures to carry out their biochemical role. Due to the complexity and dynamics of these interactions, they are often hardly traceable and nearly impossible to predict. For this respect, peptide model systems provide a valuable tool in studying membrane associated processes, since they are synthetically accessible and can be readily modified. Herein, the design and synthesis of peptide/peptide nucleic acid (PNA) conjugates as well as their functional analyses in lipid complexes are reported. The respective species exhibit a high-affinity recognition in the membrane adjacent water layers prior to assembly of the transmembrane domains. Analytical studies of the novel model system include X-ray scattering and F rster resonance energy transfer assays.

Molecular Dynamics Studies of Peptide-membrane Interactions

Molecular Dynamics Studies of Peptide-membrane Interactions
Author: Paraskevi Gkeka
Publisher:
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2010
Genre:
ISBN:

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Peptide-membrane interactions play an important role in a number of biological processes, such as antimicrobial defence mechanisms, viral translocation, membrane fusion and functions ofmembrane proteins. In particular, amphipathic [alpha]-helical peptides comprise a large family of membrane-active peptides that could exhibit a broad range of biological activities. A membrane, interacting with an amphipathic [alpha]-helical peptide, may experience a number of possible structural transitions, including stretching, reorganization of lipid molecules, formation of defects, transient and stable pores, formation of vesicles, endo- and pinocytosis and other phenomena. Naturally, theoretical and experimental studies of these interactions have been an intense on-going area of research. However, complete understanding of the relationship between the structure of the peptide and themechanismof interaction it induces, as well asmolecular details of this process, still remain elusive. Lack of this knowledge is a key challenge in our efforts to elucidate some of the biological functions of membrane active peptides or to design peptides with tailored functionalities that can be exploited in drug delivery or antimicrobial strategies. In principle,molecular dynamics is a powerful research tool to study peptide-membrane interactions, which can provide a detailed description of these processes on molecular level. However, a model operating on the appropriate time and length scale is imperative in this description. In this study, we adopt a coarse-grained approach where the accessible simulation time and length scales reach microseconds and tens of nanometers, respectively. Thus, the two key objectives of this study are to validate the applicability of the adopted coarse-grained approach to the study of peptide-membrane interactions and to provide a systematic description of these interactions as a function of peptide structure and surface chemistry. We applied the adopted strategy to a range of peptide systems, whose behaviour has been well established in either experiments or detailed atomistic simulations and outlined the scope and applicability of the coarse-grained model. We generated some useful insights on the relationship between the structure of the peptides and themechanism of peptide-membrane interactions. Particularly interesting results have been obtained for LS3, a membrane spanning peptide, with a propensity to self-assembly into ion-conducting channels. Firstly, we captured, for the first time, the complete process of self-assembly of LS3 into a hexameric ion-conducting channel and explored its properties. The channel has structure of a barrel-stave pore with peptides aligned along the lipid tails. However, we discovered that a shorter version of the peptide leads to a more disordered, less stable structure often classified as a toroidal pore. This link between two types of pores has been established for the first time and opens interesting opportunities in tuning peptide structures for a particular pore-inducing mechanism. We also established that different classes of peptides can be uniquely characterized by the distinct energy profile as they cross the membrane. Finally, we extended this investigation to the internalization mechanisms of more complex entities such as peptide complexes and nanoparticles. Coarse-grained steered molecular dynamics simulations of these model systems are performed and some preliminary results are presented in this thesis. To summarize, in this thesis, we demonstrate that coarse-grained models can be successfully used to underpin peptide interaction and self-assembly processes in the presence of membranes in their full complexity. We believe that these simulations can be used to guide the design of peptides with tailored functionalities for applications such as drug delivery vectors and antimicrobial systems. This study also suggests that coarse-grained simulations can be used as an efficient way to generate initial configurations for more detailed atomistic simulations. These multiscale simulation ideas will be a natural future extension of this work.

Biophysical Interactions of Peptides and Their Analogues with Lipid Membranes

Biophysical Interactions of Peptides and Their Analogues with Lipid Membranes
Author: Anja Stulz
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2019
Genre:
ISBN:

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Abstract: Many drugs, displaying a wide range of structures and diverse applications, can cross or bind to lipid membranes. Quantitative understanding of membrane interactions is thus important for several therapeutic approaches. First, membrane permeabilization represents the dominating mode of action of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and their synthetic mimics (SMAMPs). In terms of clinical applications, selectivity for bacterial over mammalian membranes is as important as good activity. Second, membrane interactions might influence loading, retaining, and releasing drugs from lipid-based drug delivery systems in a time controlled and targeted manner. Understanding the binding behaviour of the peptide drug exenatide to lipid membranes is not only important for characterization of its release from vesicular phospholipid gels, but might also help to understand other complex peptide-lipid interactions. The main aim of this thesis was to derive a mechanistic understanding of interactions of peptides and their analogues with model lipid membranes with a focus on the lipid composition of a membrane. Membrane permeabilization induced by AMPs and SMAMPs was quantified by a lifetime-based leakage assay using calcein-loaded vesicles. Different leakage behaviours were identified by considering active concentrations, strengths of individual leakage events, L1, and cumulative kinetics. Further experiments using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), monolayer adsorption measurements, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) helped to characterize the initial binding of AMPs and SMAMPs to lipid membranes and their propensity to induce electrostatic lipid clustering. Leakage experiments showed that the leakage behaviour changes with both, the structure of the AMP or SMAMP and the lipid composition of the membrane. The activity seems to increase if a membrane-active agent favours a permeabilization mechanism to which the particular lipid composition is especially susceptible. A closer look at kinetic profiles allowed distinguishing leakage induced by asymmetric stress from leakage events that occur stochastically. Very hydrophobic and unselective compounds seem to act mainly by hydrophobically driven asymmetry stress, especially when acting on zwitterionic phosphatidylcholine (PC) membranes. This mechanism brings about poor selectivity because all lipid membranes (bacterial and mammalian) contain a hydrophobic core. Stochastic leakage events, on the other hand, probably depend more on lipid compositions. Negatively charged lipids like phosphatidylglycerol (PG) or cardiolipin (CL) triggered the initial electrostatic attraction of polycationic AMPs or SMAMPs to bacterial membranes. High amounts of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) seem to counteract the unselective asymmetry stress mechanism. Finally, especially strong leakage events were induced in vesicles containing CL. In this way, compounds that induce only rare leakage events might still be effective. In the second part of the thesis, an ITC fit model was introduced to study complex peptide-lipid interactions based on primary binding of peptide to the lipid layer and secondary binding to pre-bound peptide. Exenatide served as an exemplary peptide that interacts electrostatically with mixed POPC/POPG liposomes and self-associates at Kd = 46 μM. A global fit of various ITC curves revealed that exenatide binds primarily to a binding site at the outer membrane leaflet composed of 2-3 negatively charged POPG and some POPC molecules. Primary binding showed high affinity with a Kd1 of 0.2-0.6 μM, while secondary binding with a Kd2 of 10-46 μM was weaker. ITC was able to quantify primary and secondary binding separately, based on different binding enthalpies. Unlike ITC, other methods such as tryptophan fluorescence and microscale thermophoresis (MST) probably represent only a summary or average of both effects. Many similar ITC data can be found in literature that possibly involve primary and secondary binding effects. Those data could benefit from a fit model as presented in this thesis