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Role of Lipid Composition, Physicochemical Interactions, and Membrane Mechanics in the Molecular Actions of Microbial Cyclic Lipopeptides

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Abstract

Several experimental and theoretical studies have extensively investigated the effects of a large diversity of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) on model lipid bilayers and living cells. Many of these peptides disturb cells by forming pores in the plasma membrane that eventually lead to the cell death. The complexity of these peptide–lipid interactions is mainly related to electrostatic, hydrophobic and topological issues of these counterparts. Diverse studies have shed some light on how AMPs act on lipid bilayers composed by different phospholipids, and how mechanical properties of membranes could affect the antimicrobial effects of such compounds. On the other hand, cyclic lipopeptides (cLPs), an important class of microbial secondary metabolites, have received comparatively less attention. Due to their amphipathic structures, cLPs exhibit interesting biological activities including interactions with biofilms, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, antiviral, and anti-tumoral properties, which deserve more investigation. Understanding how physicochemical properties of lipid bilayers contribute and determining the antagonistic activity of these secondary metabolites over a broad spectrum of microbial pathogens could establish a framework to design and select effective strategies of biological control. This implies unravelling—at the biophysical level—the complex interactions established between cLPs and lipid bilayers. This review presents, in a systematic manner, the diversity of lipidated antibiotics produced by different microorganisms, with a critical analysis of the perturbing actions that have been reported in the literature for this specific set of membrane-active lipopeptides during their interactions with model membranes and in vivo. With an overview on the mechanical properties of lipid bilayers that can be experimentally determined, we also discuss which parameters are relevant in the understanding of those perturbation effects. Finally, we expose in brief, how this knowledge can help to design novel strategies to use these biosurfactants in the agronomic and pharmaceutical industries.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge CONACyT (Project No. 2016-269607) for funding. We also thank Dr. Gloria Macedo for her invaluable technical support in obtaining MALDI-TOF mass spectra, Ms. Flor Casillas for technical support, and Dr. N. Marín-Medina for critical reading of the manuscript. We specially thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions and comments.

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Proposed the Review, M. B-G. Experiments were performed by D.B. and A.A. The manuscript was written/corrected by all the authors.

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Correspondence to Daniel Balleza.

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Balleza, D., Alessandrini, A. & Beltrán García, M.J. Role of Lipid Composition, Physicochemical Interactions, and Membrane Mechanics in the Molecular Actions of Microbial Cyclic Lipopeptides. J Membrane Biol 252, 131–157 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00232-019-00067-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00232-019-00067-4

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