Insights into the Voltage Regulation Mechanism of the Pore-Forming Toxin Lysenin.

Lysenin, a pore forming toxin (PFT) extracted from , inserts voltage-regulated channels into artificial lipid membranes containing sphingomyelin. The voltage-induced gating leads to a strong static hysteresis in conductance, which endows lysenin with molecular memory capabilities. To explain this history-dependent behavior, we hypothesized a gating mechanism that implies the movement of a voltage domain sensor from an aqueous environment into the hydrophobic core of the membrane under the influence of an external electric field.