Such hydrophobic peptides as dansylated mastoparan can elevate the fertilization membrane of sea urchin eggs.
Melittin is known to be a major hydrophobic peptide component in honeybee venom that can cause as much elevation of fertilization membrane of sea urchin eggs as normal fertilization. The action of melittin has been thought to be closely related with its ability to facilitate the phospholipase A2 activity on the eggs. However, another peptide "mastoparan" from wasp venom was not found here to cause any elevation of the membrane, although it can activate the enzyme as well as melittin. On the other hand, mastoparan was found to get the membrane-elevating activity only when its amino groups were modified with hydrophobic substituents. N epsilon-Substituted mastoparan with a dansyl group in Lys11 residue was most effective among the analogs examined here. Our findings indicate that the facilitation of phospholipase by the peptides have little relation with the membrane generation. Such hydrophobic moiety as the dansyl group in the peptides must cause the cortical reaction on the eggs in cooperation with peptide moiety. The dansylated peptide will be a useful tool to induce the artificial fertilization of sea urchin eggs.