Fig. 6: Kinetics of melittin transient membrane leakage.

a Snapshots illustrate the mechanism of melittin membrane poration observed in all simulations (peptides colored blue to red from N- to C-terminus). b Water flux at various temperatures. Different colors denote different trajectories (n = 3) at the same temperature. Pore size fluctuations are similar at all temperatures, and all pores ultimately dissolve. c The pore evaporation rate fits to a simple Arrhenius model (error bars = SEM from the n = 3 simulations performed at each temperature, red = estimated lifetime τ at 25 °C). d 2D free energy surface as a function of membrane insertion and tilt angle. The 4 final orientations of the peptides after the pore has closed are denoted S1/S2 = upper/lower leaflet surface aligned. TM1/TM2 = transmembrane up/down. e Final orientation population, averaged over all n = 15 simulations (individual data points shown, error bars = SEM). f Illustration of the definition of the tilt angle τ (gray shading = membrane).