Initial sites of magainin I binding to E. coli have been shown to be lipopolysaccharide.
Magainin I has been used in DNA binding assay. It has also been used to study its antimicrobial susceptibility.
Biochem/physiol Actions
Magainin is a 23-residue peptide, and is naturally found on the skin of African clawed frog. It has a broad spectrum specificity towards many gram-negative bacteria. It has the ability to make transmembrane pores on the bacterial cell membrane, which leads to cell lysis. It is considered nontoxic to mammalian cells.
Antibiotic peptide. Thought to preferentially bind to anionic phospholipids abundant in bacterial membranes with the formation of dynamic peptide-lipid supramolecular pore and cell permeabilization, magainins are positively charged and amphiphatic. Binding to artificial neutral membranes has also been demonstrated.