Berlin 2005 – scientific programme
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AKB: Biologische Physik
AKB 200: Poster Session II
AKB 200.10: Poster
Tuesday, March 8, 2005, 17:00–19:00, Poster TU C
Peptide antibiotics: insights in membrane selectivity and interaction — •Regine Willumeit1, Mont Kumpugdee1, Sebastian Linser1, Sergio Funari2, Jörg Andrä3, Thomas Hauß4, and Raz Jelinek5 — 1GKSS-Forschungszentrum, Max-Planck-Str. 1, 21502 Geesthacht — 2c/o HASYLAB, Notkestrasse 85, 22603 Hamburg — 3Research Center Borstel, Parkallee 10, 23845 Borstel — 4Hahn-Meitner-Institute, Glienicker Str. 100, 14109 Berlin — 5Ben Gurion University, Beersheva 84105, Israel
The past decade has brought a worldwide resurgence of infectious diseases due to the evolution of antibiotic-resistant strains. As a potential class of novel antimicrobial agents antimicrobial peptides have recently emerged. These peptides are small molecules that are fast and lethal towards a broad spectrum of pathogens but quite inactive on eukaryotic cells. However, the interaction of antibacterial peptides with their target membrane is not well understood. One promising antibacterial peptide is NK-2. It corresponds to residues 39-65 of NK-lysin, exhibits low haemolytic activity and is devoid of cytotoxic activity against human cell lines. In this paper several approaches to investigate the interaction of antibacterial peptides with membranes are presented. These include especially scattering techniques (X-ray and neutron scattering) and colorimetric biosensors.