Melittin-induced conformational changes in human lens protein

Circular dichroism and fluorescence measurements showed a reduced conformational order in proteins of a normal human lens when they were incubated in vitro with melittin, a bee venom peptide. Since melittin is also known to react with lipids to induce a breakdown of vesicular structure, the observed denaturation of water-soluble proteins of a human lens that developed a cataract due to multiple bee stings may be accounted for by the effects of melittin to some extent. The melittin-induced decrease of conformational order, as observed in our in-vitro studies could thus be of physiological significance.