Magainin 2-induced pore formation in the lipid membranes depends on its concentration in the membrane interface.

Antimicrobial peptide magainin 2 forms pores in lipid membranes to induce leakage of internal contents of cells, which is a main cause of its bactericidal activity. However, the conditions and the mechanism of its pore formation remain unclear. In this report, to reveal the effect of the surface charge density of membranes on magainin 2-induced pore formation, we investigated the interaction of magainin 2 with giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) composed of a mixture of electrically neutral dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC) and negatively charged dioleoylphosphatidylglycerol (DOPG) in various ratios, using the single GUV method. We found that magainin 2 induced pores in the membranes of all kinds of single GUVs. For GUVs with the same charge density, the rate of the pore formation increased with magainin 2 concentration. The magainin 2 concentrations in a buffer required to induce the same rate of the pore formation greatly increased with a decrease in the surface charge density; e.g., the magainin 2 concentrations required for the pore formation in 30% DOPG/70% DOPC-GUVs were 50 times higher than those in 60% DOPG/40% DOPC-GUVs. However, after we converted the magainin 2 concentration in the buffer into that in the membrane interface, Xbmag, we found that Xbmag mainly determines the rate of the pore formation in various GUVs. These data support our model of two-state transition from the binding state to the pore state of the GUV for magainin 2-induced pore formation.