Berlin 2018 – scientific programme
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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik
DY 53: Complex Fluids and Soft Matter (joint session DY/ CPP / BP)
DY 53.14: Talk
Wednesday, March 14, 2018, 19:00–19:15, BH-N 334
ROLE OF PORE FORMING TOXINS IN MODULATING THE LIPID DYNAMICS. — •Vadhana Varadarajan1, Rajat Desikan2, and Ayappa Ganapathy K3 — 1Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India — 2Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India — 3Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Pore-forming toxins (PFT’s) secreted by bacteria are important bacterial virulence factors which oligomerize and spontaneously self-assemble on the mammalian cell membranes. The effect of an alpha PFT and a beta-PFT on saturated and unsaturated mammalian cell membranes are investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. The structure and dynamics of lipids in the vicinity of PFT’s are different away from them giving rise to structural and dynamic heterogeneities. We also investigated the role of cholesterol in these systems. Our findings reveal that cholesterol fluidizes the lipid bilayer and the local structure is closely related to the dynamics which also depends on the saturation level of the lipid as well as the hydrophobic mismatch of the lipid bilayer with the PFT’s. We also investigated the survival probability of the lipids in the vicinity of PFT which can be used to quantify the lifetime and death of cells. Our study reveals that the beta-PFT is less toxic than alpha-PFT.