Membrane anchoring of a curvature-inducing peptide, EpN18, promotes membrane translocation of octaarginine

EpN18 is a curvature-inducing peptide, which loosens lipid packing upon interaction with the cell membrane, and facilitates cell-membrane penetration by arginine-rich cell-penetrating peptides, including octaarginine (R8). In the present study, we conjugated the N-terminal of EpN18 with a pyrenebutyryl (pBu) moiety, which acts as an anchoring unit that increases membrane interactions. Enhanced lipid-packing loosening and cytosolic translocation of R8 were observed by the pBu anchoring of EpN18.