Cell membranes, permeabilisation

The diterpenes ferruginol and hinokiol [104, 105], geranylgeraniol, tepre-none and phytol [106] showed antibacterial activity. iS-Hydroxykaurenoic acid produced permeabilisation of the cell membrane of the fungi Botrytis cinerea [107, 108]. 

Catala P, Parthuisot N, Bernard L, Baudart J, Lemarchand K, Lebaron P (1999) Effectiveness of CSE to counterstain particles and dead bacterial cells with permeabilised membranes application to viability assessment in waters. FEMS Microb Lett 178 219-226 Cools 1, D Haese E, Uyttendaele M, Storms E, NeUs HJ, Debevere J (2005) Solid phase cytometry as a tool to detect viable but non-culturable cells of Campylobacter jejuni. J Microbiol Meth 63 107-114... 

Surfactants are used to permeabilise or lyse the cells to recover the product. E. coli cells can be made permeable to facilitate extraction by biosurfactants (Singh et al., 2007). Biosurfactants can be used as reagents for membrane permeabilisation for proteins (Desai and Banat, 1997). Recently Bhadoriyaet al. (2013) described role ofbiosiufactants producing bacteria in development of pharmaceutical additives and its use in solubility enhancement of poorly soluble drugs. Antimicrobial activity and anti-adhesive properties of biosurfactants are also greatly used in pharmaceutical industries. 

Recent results indicate that not only topogenic signals and membrane composition contribute to the proper topology of a membrane protein. The antimicrobial peptide nisin, produced by Lactococcus lactis, kills Gram-positive bacteria via pore formation, thus leading to the permeabilisation of the membrane. Nisin depends on the cell-wall precursor Lipid II, which functions as a docking molecule to support a perpendicular stable transmembrane orientation [43]. 

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