Sammendrag
The rise in frequency of antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria makes the need for new
treatment options for previously curable bacterial infections ever more important. In the
process of discovering and developing antibacterial agents, one powerful approach has been
borrowing wisdom from nature. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are critical components of
the innate immune systems found in almost all eukaryotic life forms. Their mode of action
includes disruption of the bacterial membrane and to trigger supporting immune responses.
Due to these properties, AMPs are considered promising lead structures that can be further
developed into commercially available antibiotics to treat or prevent human diseases caused
by bacteria.
The work conducted in this thesis aims to discover and characterize novel antimicrobial
peptides from the Arctic marine ascidian Synoicum turgens by using a marine bioprospecting
approach. This includes collection, extraction and fractionation of biomass, antibacterial
bioactivity testing and AMP isolation followed by chemical and biological characterization.
For one isolated peptide class, truncated versions were prepared, aiming to produce shorter,
linear variants with retained antimicrobial activity.
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