Use of a real-time polymerase chain reaction thermocycler to study bacterial cell permeabilization by antimicrobial peptides.

Antimicrobial peptides are good leads to develop new antibiotics, but knowledge of their mode of action is a prerequisite. Destruction of the microbial membranes through a detergent-like mechanism is one of these modes of action. This is usually studied by using a fluorescent nucleic acid stain such as SYTOX Green, which is impermeable to living cells. Using a simple protocol based on the use of a standard real-time thermocycler, we confirmed that the actions of the antimicrobial peptides LL-37 and magainin 2 on bacterial cells are different.