Interaction of Bee Venom Melittin with Zwitterionic and Negatively Charged Phospholipid Bilayers: A Spin-Label Electron Spin Resonance Study

ABSTRACT Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy was used to study the penetration and interaction of bee venom melittin with dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) and ditetradecylphosphatidylglycerol (DTPG) bilayer membranes. Melit-tin is a surface-active, amphipathic peptide and serves as a useful model for a variety of membrane interactions, including those of presequences and signal peptides, as well as the charged subdomain of the cardiac regulatory protein phospho-lamban. Derivatives of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylglycerol spin-labeled at various positions along the sn-2 acyl chain were used to establish the chain flexibility gradient for the two membranes in the presence and absence of melittin. Negatively charged DTPG bilayer membranes showed a higher capacity for binding melittin without bilayer disruption than did membranes formed by the zwitterionic DMPC, demonstrating the electrostatic neutralization of bound melittin by DTPG. The temperature dependence of the ESR spectra showed that the gel-to-liquid crystalline phase transition is eliminated by binding melittin to DTPG bilayers, whereas a very broad transition remains in the case of DMPC bilayers. None of the spin labels used showed a two-component spectrum characteristic of a specific restriction of their chain motion by melittin, but the outer hyperfine splittings and effective chain order parameters were increased for all labels upon binding melittin. This indicates a reduced flexibility of the lipid chains induced by a surface orientation of the bound melittin. Whereas the characteristic shape of the chain flexibility gradient was maintained upon melittin addition to DMPC bilayers, the chain flexibility profile in DTPG bilayers was much more strongly perturbed. It was found that the steepest change in segmental flexibility was shifted towar