Aggregation state of melittin in lipid vesicle membranes

We have performed time-resolved fluorescence energy transfer measurements using melittin as donor and a modified melittin as acceptor. The melittin molecules were bound to fluid vesicle membranes of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine. Analysis of the temporal decay of the energy transfer and of its variation with the donor and acceptor concentrations led to the conclusion that melittin in fluid membranes is usually monomeric. Only at the high melittin/lipid molar ratio of 1/200 and high ionic strength evidence for aggregation was obtained, the percentage of aggregated melittin molecules being of the order of 10%. The shortcomings of previous steady-state measurements of fluorescence energy transfer between melittin molecules are discussed.