Shining a light on peptide-lipid interactions. Fluorescence methods in the study of membrane-active peptides

The function of several bioactive peptides is mediated by their interaction with cellular membranes. Notwithstanding the great applicative interest in these systems, their mechanism of action is still poorly understood, mainly due to the lack of unambiguous 3D-structural data. Here, we briefly review the structural and functional information available from fluorescence spectroscopic methods to illustrate the prominent role of these techniques in the study of peptide-lipid interactions.