Interactions between model bacterial membranes and synthetic antimicrobials.

Antimicrobial peptides comprise a key component of innate immunity for a wide range of multicellular organisms. It has been shown that natural antimicrobial peptides and their analogs can permeate bacterial membranes selectively. There are a number of proposed models for this action, but the detailed molecular mechanism of the induced membrane permeation remains unclear. We investigate interactions between model bacterial membranes and a prototypical family of phenylene ethynylene-based antimicrobials with controllable hydrophilic and hydrophobic volume fractions, controllable charge placement. Preliminary results from synchrotron small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) results will be presented.