Membrane fusion induced by mutual interaction of the two charge-reversed amphiphilic peptides at neutral pH.

An anionic amphiphilic peptide and the charge-reversed cationic peptide are synthesized. They contain 20 amino acids with the same sequence except for 5 Glu residues for the anionic versus 5 Lys residues for the cationic peptides. Fusion of egg phosphatidylcholine large unilamellar vesicles is assayed with the fluorescent probes by the lipid mixing and the internal content mixing at neutral pH. The peptide mixture causes a rapid and efficient membrane fusion, in spite of no fusions with each peptide by itself. Each peptide takes nearly random coils with a small amount of helix, but the peptide mixture has an ordered helical structure. The equimolar peptide mixture forms a much more hydrophobic complex than those of different molar ratios of peptides and also that of each peptide itself. The equimolar peptide mixture causes the most efficient fusion. Preincubations of two peptides before addition to vesicles cause the slower rates of fusion. The fusion is greatly reduced at higher ionic strength and nearly zero at 800 mM NaCl and 40 mM sodium phosphate. Each peptide and the peptide mixture show the same alpha-helical structure, interact with vesicles, but do not induce fusion at higher ionic strengths. These results suggest that the two peptides interact mutually through the electrostatic Coulombic interaction between the charged groups. The electrically neutralized hydrophobic complex aggregates the separate vesicles together and interacts with the hydrocarbon region of lipid bilayers to cause fusion.