Defensins are cationic and disulfide-bonded host defense proteins of many animals that target microbial cell membranes. Elucidating the three-dimensional structure, dynamics and topology of these proteins in phospholipid bilayers is important for understanding their mechanisms of action. Using solid-state NMR spectroscopy, we have now determined the conformation, dynamics, oligomeric state and topology of a human α-defensin, HNP-1, in DMPC/DMPG bilayers. 2D correlation spectra show that membrane-bound HNP-1 exhibits a similar conformation to the water-soluble state, except for the turn connecting the β2 and β3 strands, whose sidechains exhibit immobilization and conformational perturbation upon membrane binding. At high protein/lipid ratios, rapid 1H spin diffusion from the lipid chains to the protein was observed, indicating that HNP-1 was well inserted into the hydrocarbon core of the bilayer. Arg Cζ-lipid 31P distances indicate that only one of the four Arg residues forms tight hydrogen-bonded guanidinium-phosphate complexes. The protein is predominantly dimerized at high protein/lipid molar ratios, as shown by 19F spin diffusion experiments. The presence of a small fraction of monomers and the shallower insertion at lower protein concentrations suggest that HNP-1 adopts concentration-dependent oligomerization and membrane-bound structure. These data strongly support a “dimer pore” topology of HNP-1 in which the polar top of the dimer lines an aqueous pore while the hydrophobic bottom faces the lipid chains. In this structure R25 lies closest to the membrane surface among the four Arg residues. The pore does not have large lipid disorder, in contrast to the toroidal pores formed by protegrin-1, a two-stranded β-hairpin antimicrobial peptide. These results provide the first glimpse into the membrane-bound structure and mechanism of action of human α-defensins.
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