SANS Investigation into the Mode of Interaction between Antibiotics and Different Model Membranes

In this part of proposed work, we wish to explore how antibiotics minocycline and tetracycline interact with model lipid bilayers in the form of SUVs, mimicking key features of outer surfaces of red blood cells and bacteria. From home lab based dynamic light scattering and molecular dynamic simulations, we have found varying interactions associated with charges and hydrophobicity. SANS is uniquely powerful at unraveling structural details associated with antibiotic binding to the bilayers surrounding the SUVs. This work will form a useful basis for us to compare how antimicrobial peptides and traditional antibiotics interact with representative membrane bilayer models and provide valuable molecular insight of modes of actions of these compounds against different model membranes.