Session 2B: Inaugural Lectures by Fellows/Associates

N Sathyamurthy, Bengaluru

Physics of the Action Mechanism of Antimicrobial Peptides

Antibiotic resistance poses a significant threat to public health worldwide, and there is a pressing need to find novel antibacterial agents to combat this problem. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a class of promising antibiotics against drug-resistant bacteria. As the main target of AMPs is the bacterial membrane, a detailed study on the interaction between AMPs and lipid membrane is required to understand their action mechanism. This talk will focus on the physics of interaction of different AMPs with model biomembrane systems as investigated using neutron scattering techniques. The interaction of AMPs is found to be strongly dependent on the physical state and composition of the membranes. Another notable observation is the lateral segregation of lipids in the membrane elicited by the reduced lateral mobility in presence of AMP. Our studies divulge a new action mechanism of AMPs relevant in a more realistic scenario, where peptide concentration is not as high as would be required for pore formation, a traditional action mechanism. We have also shown that AMPs selectively interact with the model bacterial membrane. Interaction of other potential antimicrobial agents (ionic liquids, curcumin, etc.) with lipid membrane will also be discussed briefly in this talk.