MOTIVATION In order to obtain statistically relevant results, the study of membrane effects at the single-vesicle level requires the analysis of several hundreds of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs), which becomes a very time-consuming task if carried out manually. Complete and user-friendly software for fast and bias-free automated analysis has not been reported yet. RESULTS We developed a f...

Integrating nanotechnology with experimental biology is paramount to advancing fundamental biological science and technology, and, therefore, of high current interest and importance. In this article, we report on a new possibility of utilizing carbon nanotube probes assembled by a modified dielectrophoretic based technique for single-cell experimentation and delivery. The modified approach perm...

Translocation of cell-penetrating peptides is often promoted by increased content of arginine or other guanidinium groups. However, relatively little research has considered the role of these functional groups on antimicrobial peptide activity. This study compared the activity of three histone-derived antimicrobial peptides-buforin II, DesHDAP1, and parasin-with variants that contain only lysin...

During apoptosis, cytochrome c is released into the cytosol as the outer membrane of mitochondria becomes permeable, and this acts to trigger caspase activation. The consequences of this release for mitochondrial metabolism are unclear. Using single-cell analysis, we found that when caspase activity is inhibited, mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization causes a rapid depolarization of mit...

Sticholysin II is a pore-forming toxin produced by the sea anemone Stichodactyla helianthus. We studied its cytolytic activity on COS-7 cells. Fluorescence spectroscopy and flow cytometry revealed that the toxin permeabilizes cells to propidium cations in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner. This permeabilization is impaired by preincubation of cells with cyclodextrin. Isolation of deter...

During interphase, the nuclear envelope (NE) serves as a selective barrier between cytosol and nucleoplasm. When vertebrate cells enter mitosis, the NE is dismantled in the process of nuclear envelope breakdown (NEBD). Disassembly of nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) is a key aspect of NEBD, required for NE permeabilization and formation of a cytoplasmic mitotic spindle. Here, we show that both CDK...

Necrosis, apoptosis and autophagic cell death are the main cell death pathways in multicellular organisms, all with distinct and overlapping cellular and biochemical features. DNA damage may trigger different types of cell death in cancer cells but the molecular events governing the mode of cell death remain elusive. Here we showed that increased BH3-only protein BIK levels promoted cisplatin- ...

Membrane-permeabilizing peptide antibiotics are an underutilized weapon in the battle against drug-resistant microorganisms. This is true, in part, because of the bottleneck caused by the lack of explicit design principles and the paucity of simple high-throughput methods for selection. In this work, we characterize the requirements for broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity by membrane permeabi...

Mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization by proapoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins, such as Bax, plays a crucial role in apoptosis induction. However, whether this only causes the intracytosolic release of inducers of caspase-dependent death, such as cytochrome c, or also of caspase-independent death, such as apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) remains unknown. Here, we show that on isolated mitoc...

Solanum tuberosum aspartic proteases (StAPs) with antimicrobial activity are induced after abiotic and biotic stress. In this study the ability of StAPs to produce a direct antimicrobial effect was investigated. Viability assays demonstrated that StAPs are able to kill spores of Fusarium solani and Phytophthora infestans in a dose-dependent manner. Localization experiments with FITC-labelled St...