1301.7579 (G. C. Fadda et al.)

Peptide pores in lipid bilayers : voltage facilitation pleads for a
revised model    [PDF]

G. C. Fadda, D. Lairez, Z. Guennouni, A. Koutsioubas

Antimicrobial peptides create pores in lipid bilayers. We report two novel experiments on such a system (alamethicin/DPPC) under electric field (voltage-clamp and neutron reflectivity) that oblige and guide us to revise the only current model (H. W. Huang et al. PRL, 92, 198304 (2004)). In our model, zero-volt and voltage-induced pore opening originate from the bending energy rather than membrane tension. We introduce : 1) the electrical work as being due to an asymmetric mechanical tension of bilayer leaflets; 2) the entropy cost for one pore opening as being due to the corresponding "excluded-area" for lipid translation.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1301.7579