Combining 2H and 14N nuclear magnetic resonance measurements on ternary lipid/cholesterol mixtures it is possible to quantitate the phase separation into coexisting ℓo and ℓd domains using a single sample whose composition is within the two phase region. Mixtures of each of the unsaturated phospholipids dioleoyl phosphatidylcholine, dilinoleoyl phosphatidylcholine and dilinolenoyl phosphatidylcholine with the saturated dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol all exhibit ℓo and ℓd phase coexistence over a substantial range of compositions and temperatures. A higher degree of unsaturation broadens the temperature range of two phase coexistence and results in the ℓd phase domains actually being significantly more 'fluid' at lower temperatures than they are at higher temperatures.
We describe here a new class of antimicrobial peptides (named Amy-Cat) comprised of a short amyloid domain and a cationic domain, as a primary amphipathic structure. The nona-arginine sequence was chosen as the cationic motif, while the sequence and size of the amyloid domain was modulated. The Amy-Cat peptides were found to be bactericidal against gram-negative and gram-positive standard bacterial strains with minimum inhibitory concentrations ranging from 3 to 24 μM, and being well-below their hemolytic concentrations. Their membranotropic activities were investigated as a function of the amyloid sequence and compared to those of the nona-arginine peptide. Calcein dye leakage on lipid mimic models for bacterial and eukaryotic membranes was carried out. In addition, the effect of the amyloid moiety on the membrane binding and on the conformational change were investigated at the buffer/supported lipid bilayer interface using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. The overall findings suggest optimum routes to balancing the hydrophobicity of the amyloid sequence over the fixed cationic sequence allowing selective disruption of the bacterial membranes without eliciting hemolysis. Amy-Cat peptides appear to be very promising candidates for the development of new antimicrobial agents.

