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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Jul 1.
Published in final edited form as: Pediatr Nephrol. 2013 Jun 5;29(7):1139–1149. doi: 10.1007/s00467-013-2513-9

Figure 3. Proposed antimicrobial mechanisms of antimicrobial peptides.

Figure 3

AMPs can kill bacteria by disrupting the microbial membrane (A–C) or translocating across the membrane and binding to intracellular targets (D). Models of membrane disruption include the following: (A) Barrel-stave model: (A1) Cationic AMPs (+) bind to the negatively charged bacteria lipid bilayer (−) and disrupt the microbial membrane by forming an aqueous channel or “barrel-stave” (A2). (B) Carpet Model: AMPs blanket the microbial membrane and disrupt it by forming micelles. (C) Torodial Pore Model: AMPs bind to phospholipid head group on the microbial membrane allowing its hydrophobic portion to intercalate into the microbial membrane and cause the lipid bilayer to fold back on itself [50].