Figure 7.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are components of the innate immune system that act by disrupting bacterial membranes. (A) Membrane disruption mechanism of AMPs is initiated by attraction of the positively charged peptide to the negatively charged bacterial membrane lipid headgroups. Loss of membrane integrity results from three distinct pore forming mechanisms. (B) Models of the AMPs, MSI-78 and protegrin-1, and venom peptide, melittin, with positions of fluorinated amino acid substitution shown in green.