Figure 3.

Mechanism of action of antimicrobial peptides targeting bacterial lipid membranes. The bacterial membrane is represented by the orange lipid bilayer with peptides illustrated as dual colored cylinders, with a hydrophilic region (red) and a hydrophobic region (blue). The arrangement of peptides on the surface of the lipid layer is hypothesized to drive four different membrane permeabilization mechanisms: the “aggregate” model (1), the “torodal pore” model (2), the “barrel-stave” model (3) and the “carpet” model (4).