Circular dichroism and 1H NMR were used to investigate the interactions of a
series of synthetic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) with lipopolysaccharides (LPS) isolated from
Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Previous CD studies with AMPs
containing only three Tic-Oic dipeptide units do not exhibit helical characteristics upon
interacting with small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) consisting of LPS. Increasing the number of
Tic-Oic dipeptide units to six resulted in five analogues with CD spectra that exhibited helical
characteristics on binding to LPS SUVs. Spectroscopic and in vitro inhibitory data suggest that
there are two possible helical conformations resulting from two different AMP-LPS binding
mechanisms. Mechanism one involves a helical binding conformation where the AMP binds
LPS very strongly and is not efficiently transported across the LPS bilayer resulting in the loss of
inhibitory activity. Mechanism two involves a helical binding conformation where the AMP
binds LPS very loosely and is efficiently transported across the LPS bilayer resulting in an
increase in inhibitory activity. Mechanism three involves a nonhelical binding conformation
where the AMP binds LPS very loosely and is efficiently transported across the LPS bilayer
resulting in an increase in inhibitory activity.