ARE AMPHIPATHIC ASYMMETRIC PEPTIDES UBIQUITOUS STRUCTURES FOR MEMBRANE DESTABILIZATION

The fusion of some viruses (SIV, BLV, etc) to host cells implicates sh ort fragments of the fusion protein that are asymmetric amphipathic he lices in molecular modelling. The tilted orientation of these fragment s at a water/lipid interface is directly related to their fusogenic ca pacity. On this basis, we have searched for fragments of sequences cor responding to ''viral fusion peptides'' in other proteins. We have dev eloped a strategy to detect them from primary sequences. Many candidat es were detected, especially in transmembrane areas of membranous prot eins, in signal sequences and in globular proteins. We suggest that th ey are involved in the dynamics of lipid-protein interactions.