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Influence of charge, charge distribution, and hydrophobicity on the transport of short model peptides into liposomes in response to transmembrane pH gradients.

Previous work [Chakrabarti et al. (1992) Biophys. J. 61, 228-234] has shown that basic amino acids and peptides, in which the C-terminal carboxyl groups have been modified to form amides or methyl esters, can be rapidly and efficiently accumulated into large unilamellar vesicle (LUV) systems in response to transmembrane pH gradients (delta pH, inside acidic). In this work, the ability of small (di and tri) peptides, composed exclusively of basic (lysine) and hydrophobic (tryptophan) amino acids, to accumulate into LUV systems in response to delta pH has been investigated. In the case of the dipeptides Trp-Lys-amide and Lys-Trp-amide, remarkable differences in the rate constants associated with net transport were observed. In EPC:cholesterol LUV systems exhibiting a delta pH of 3 units (pHi = 4.0; pHo = 7.0), for example, the rate constant for the uptake of Lys-Trp-amide is some 5 x 10(3) faster than for Trp-Lys-amide. Activation energies associated with the uptake also varied from 24 (Lys-Trp) to 29 kcal/mol (Trp-Lys). Related effects were observed for the tripeptides composed of one lysine and two tryptophan residues; however, the differences in rate constants were less sensitive to amino acid sequence. It is concluded that different charge distributions in short peptides of identical amino acid composition can strongly influence the ability of these groups to associate with and permeate across lipid bilayers. These observations may have relevance to the ability of basic peptides, such as signal sequences and peptide hormones, to translocate across biological membranes.