Effect of charged lipid composition in vesicle membrane on the polyelectrolyte – lipid membrane interactions

We have studied the electrical interactions between the vesicles membrane and polyelectrolytes (nisin) using fluorescence microscopy. The effect of composition of the charged lipids in the vesicle membrane on their interactions with the charged polymer is probed. These interactions are known to form pores in the membrane. We propose a model to obtain an analytical expression for the rate of pore formation in terms of surface charged concentration in the vesicle membrane. The expression is found to fit well to the experimental data. These studies are useful to understand the action of antimicrobial peptides on the microbial cell membrane.