36
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: not found

      Melittin: a membrane-active peptide with diverse functions.

      1 ,
      Bioscience reports
      Springer Science and Business Media LLC

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPubMed
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Melittin is the principal toxic component in the venom of the European honey bee Apis mellifera and is a cationic, hemolytic peptide. It is a small linear peptide composed of 26 amino acid residues in which the amino-terminal region is predominantly hydrophobic whereas the carboxy-terminal region is hydrophilic due to the presence of a stretch of positively charged amino acids. This amphiphilic property of melittin has resulted in melittin being used as a suitable model peptide for monitoring lipid-protein interactions in membranes. In this review, the solution and membrane properties of melittin are highlighted, with an emphasis on melittin-membrane interaction using biophysical approaches. The recent applications of melittin in various cellular processes are discussed.

          Related collections

          Author and article information

          Journal
          Biosci Rep
          Bioscience reports
          Springer Science and Business Media LLC
          0144-8463
          0144-8463
          Oct 2007
          : 27
          : 4-5
          Affiliations
          [1 ] Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India.
          Article
          10.1007/s10540-006-9030-z
          17139559
          6c4195f6-80ca-48fa-a5e1-10fd9afc773f
          History

          Comments

          Comment on this article