Peptides in membranes: tipping the balance of membrane stability

Abstract

This review describes a class of peptides that associate with lipids in membranes and are commonly known as 'oblique-orientated peptides'. Owing to an asymmetric distribution of hydrophobic residues along the axis of the alpha-helix, such peptides can destabilize membranes or lipid cores, thereby facilitating such cellular processes as vesicular fusion or protein transport across subcellular compartments, as well as remodelling of lipid cores.