Maculatin 1.1 disrupts staphylococcus aureus lipid membranes via a pore mechanism

MA Sani; TC Whitwell; JD Gehman; RM Robins-Browne; N Pantarat; TJ Attard; EC Reynolds; NM O'Brien-Simpson; F Separovic

Journal article

Maculatin 1.1 disrupts staphylococcus aureus lipid membranes via a pore mechanism

MA Sani, TC Whitwell, JD Gehman, RM Robins-Browne, N Pantarat, TJ Attard, EC Reynolds, NM O'Brien-Simpson, F Separovic

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy | AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY | Published : 2013

DOI: 10.1128/AAC.00195-13

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Abstract

Maculatin 1.1 (Mac1) showed potent activity against Staphylococcus aureus with an MIC of 7 M. The mode of action of Mac1 was investigated by combining assays with S. aureus cells and lipid vesicles mimicking their membrane composition. A change in Mac1 conformation was monitored by circular dichroism from random coil to ca. 70%-helix structure in contact with vesicles. Electron micrographs of S. aureus incubated with Mac1 showed rough and rippled cell surfaces. An uptake of 65% of small (FD, 4 kDa [FD-4]) and 35% of large (RD, 40 kDa [RD-40]) fluorescent dextrans by S. aureus was observed by flow cytometry and indicate that Mac1 formed a pore of finite size. In model membranes with both dyes..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Marco Sani Author

Roy Robins-Browne Author

Troy Attard Author

Eric Reynolds Author

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Funding Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the ARC for funding the project ARC-DP110101866 and the NHMRC for funding project APP1008106. M.-A.S. thanks the University of Melbourne for internal grant support. J.D.G. is an Australian Research Council future fellow (FT0991558).