Molecular Modelling On The Interaction Between Cell Penetraring Peptides And Lipid Membrane

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are a class of short peptides (<30amino acid) that can penetrate biological membrane without causing membrane rupture. CPPs are demonstrated to be able to cross the cell membrane spontaneously, carrying cargoes with a wide range of molecular sizes, such as proteins, oligonucleotides and even200nm liposomes. Usually, CPPs are non-toxic and quickly penetrate the cell membrane, which is the feature that make it can become the ideal drug carriers. More than100kinds of CPPs have been identified at present, but their uptake mechanism is still unknown:under normal circumstances, the penetration mechanism seems to have nothing to do with receptors and energy. But under certain conditions, the penetration way can be partially ascribed to NP endocytosis.In this work, molecular dynamics simulation method is applied to show that transmembrane potential plays an important role for the translocation of CPPs. Furthermore, during the translocation process, a nanoscale hydrophilic hole is found in the lipid membrane, which can facilitate CPPs transporting into cell through membrane.This findings not only interpret the mechanism of CPPs penetrating across membrane, but also demonstrate the importance of transmembrane potential in cell activity.