Mastoparan

In an experimental study conducted by Tsutomu Higashijima and his counterparts, mastoparan was compared to melittin, which is found in bee venom. Mainly, the structure and reaction to phosphate was studied in each toxin. Using Circular Dichroism (CD), it was found that when mastoparan was exposed to methanol, an alpha helical form existed. It was concluded that strong intramolecular hydrogen bonding occurred. Also, two negative bands were present on the CD spectrum. In an aqueous environment, mastoparan took on a nonhelical, unordered form. In this case, only one negative band was observed on the CD spectrum. Adding phosphate buffer to mastoparan resulted in no effect. Melittin produced a different conformational change than mastoparan. In an aqueous solution, melittin went from a nonhelical form to an alpha helix when phosphate was added to the solution. The binding of melittin to the membrane was believed to result from electrostatic interactions, not hydrophobic interactions. == Attempts to remove mastoparan toxicity ==

Despite the toxic effects to mammalian cells, mastoparan is also a potential antibiotic template due to its potent antimicrobial activity. In design study performed by Irazazabal and co-workers (2016), it was demonstrated that the inclusion of an isoleucine and an arginine residue at positions 5 and 8 respectively [I5, R8], dramatically reduced the toxicity of mastoparan, turning it into a potentially valuable drug for fighting infectious disease. == References ==