Production of antimicrobial peptide consisting nanofibers and examination of their bioactivities

In this thesis, it was aimed to develop peptides with antimicrobial effects on both Gram (+) and Gram (-) bacteria and to obtain bioactive nanofibers from these peptides that can be used in the medical field. For this purpose, temporin 1Ta, temporin 1Tb and apidaecin 1b peptides were selected and various hybrid peptides were obtained from these peptides. Peptides were synthesized by solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) method and purified by reverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The molecular weights of the peptides were analyzed by mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and their % purity was analyzed by analytical RP-HPLC. Then, nanofibers were obtained by electrospinning method by mixing the peptides with 10% PVA solution in certain proportions. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) was used for the characterization of the nanofibers. The presence of peptide in the nanofibers was analyzed with analytical RP-HPLC. Subsequently, it was observed that the new hybrid peptides, whose antimicrobial properties were tested on various Gram (+) and Gram (-) bacteria, exhibited high antimicrobial activity in both bacterial groups, and the nanofibers obtained from these peptides were effective in the range of at least 10-100 µM in both bacterial groups. The hemolytic activities of the peptides were also tested. It was observed that hybrid peptides with antimicrobial properties did not exhibit hemolytic activity in the MIC ranges. The findings show that hybrid peptides and their nanofibers can be used effectively in medical fields such as drug research studies or as wound dressing materials