Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40455071›Full record

ArticleeLife2025

Daptomycin forms a stable complex with phosphatidylglycerol for selective uptake to bacterial membrane.

Pragyansree Machhua, Vignesh Gopalakrishnan Unnithan, Yu Liu, Yiping Jiang, Lingfeng Zhang, Zhihong Guo

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in eLife, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Bacterial cell envelope-targeting antibiotics.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026
    Review
  4. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Pragyansree MachhuaShenzhen Research Institute and Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9425-130X
Vignesh Gopalakrishnan UnnithanShenzhen Research Institute and Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China.
Yu LiuShenzhen Research Institute and Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6179-7699
Yiping JiangShenzhen Research Institute and Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China.
Lingfeng ZhangShenzhen Research Institute and Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0009-5282-8022
Zhihong GuoShenzhen Research Institute and Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0374-8412

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China 21877094Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee GRF16102121
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Daptomycin is a potent lipopeptide antibiotic used in the treatment of life-threatening Gram-positive infections, but the molecular mechanism of its interaction with bacterial membrane remains unclear. Here, we show that this interaction is divided into two stages, of which the first is a fast and reversible binding of the drug to phospholipid membrane in milliseconds, and the second is a slow and irreversible insertion into membrane in minutes, only in the presence of the bacteria-specific lipid phosphatidylglycerol, to a saturating point where the ratio of the drug to phosphatidylglycerol is 1:2. Fluorescence-based titration showed that the antibiotic simultaneously binds two molecules of phosphatidylglycerol with a nanomolar binding affinity in the presence of calcium ion. The resulting stable complex is easily formed in a test tube and readily isolated from the membrane of drug-treated bacterial cells, strongly supporting a unique drug uptake mechanism in which daptomycin forms a stable multicomponent complex with calcium and phosphatidylglycerol. Revelation of this novel uptake mechanism provides fresh insights into the mode of action of daptomycin and paves the way to new strategies to attenuate resistance to the drug.

Indexed as

Anti-Bacterial AgentsCell MembraneDaptomycinPhosphatidylglycerolsCalciumAnti-Bacterial AgentsCalciumDaptomycinPhosphatidylglycerolsbiochemistryB. subtilischemical biologydaptomycinmembrane insertionmode of actionphospholipidsresistance

Identifiers

PMID40455071
PMCPMC12129450

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.