FIG. 2.

Assessment of the relative hydrophobicities of the Defb14-1C^V N-terminal deletion series. (a) The retention times of each N-terminal deletion peptide, relative to that of melittin, are measured for both the monomer and dimer under reducing and nonreducing conditions, respectively. Increased relative retention time is indicative of more hydrophobic character, since under a reversed-phase gradient hydrophobic peptides will be retained longer on the C₁₈ column. For comparison, panel b shows the theoretical hydrophobicity score (in kcal mol⁻¹) of each peptide in water, calculated using the scale of Wimley and White (22). Greater hydrophobicity is indicated by a less negative value.