Antifreeze (glyco) proteins are produced by many cold-acclimatized species to enable them to survive subzero temperatures. These proteins have multiple macroscopic effects on ice crystal growth which makes them appealing for low-temperature applications-from cellular cryopreservation to food storage. Poly(vinyl alcohol) has remarkable ice recrystallization inhibition activity, but its mode of a...

Adaptive radiation is usually triggered by ecological opportunity, arising through (i) the colonization of a new habitat by its progenitor; (ii) the extinction of competitors; or (iii) the emergence of an evolutionary key innovation in the ancestral lineage. Support for the key innovation hypothesis is scarce, however, even in textbook examples of adaptive radiation. Antifreeze glycoproteins (A...

Ice nucleation and growth is an important and widespread environmental process. Accordingly, nature has developed means to either promote or inhibit ice crystal formation, for example ice-nucleating proteins in bacteria or ice-binding antifreeze proteins in polar fish. Recently, it was found that birch pollen release ice-nucleating macromolecules when suspended in water. Here we show that birch...

A cold-responsive chitinase gene, BiCHT1, was isolated from bromegrass (Bromus inermis) 'Manchar' suspension cells. BiCHT1 messenger RNA was detected at low levels in nonstressed bromegrass cells, whereas its accumulation was induced by incubation at 10 degrees C and 4 degrees C as detected by northern- and western-blot analyses. BiCHT1 was highly homologous to rye CHT9, known to encode an anti...

Some cold water marine fishes avoid cellular damage because of freezing by expressing antifreeze proteins (AFPs) that bind to ice and inhibit its growth; one such protein is the globular type III AFP from eel pout. Despite several studies, the mechanism of ice binding remains unclear because of the difficulty in modeling the AFP-ice interaction. To further explore the mechanism, we have determi...

PURPOSE To investigate the effect of antifreeze protein (AFP) supplementation on ovarian vitrification and transplantation. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this experimental study, we researched a total of 182 ovaries from 4-week-old ICR mice. The equilibration solution included 20% ethylene glycol (EG), and the vitrification solution included 40% EG, 18% Ficoll, and 0.3 M sucrose. Intact ovaries we...

The influence of proteins and solutes on hysteresis of freezing and melting of water was measured by infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Of the solutes examined, poly-L-arginine and flounder antifreeze protein produced the largest freezing point depression of water, with little effect on the melting temperature. Poly-L-lysine, poly-L-glutamate, cytochrome c and bovine serum albumin had less effect on t...

Alanine-rich α-helical (type I) antifreeze proteins (AFPs) are produced by a variety of fish species from three different orders to protect against freezing in icy seawater. Interspersed amongst and within these orders are fishes making AFPs that are completely different in both sequence and structure. The origin of this variety of types I, II, III and antifreeze glycoproteins (AFGPs) has been ...

Is the recently found seepage groundwater on Mars pure H2O, or mixed with salts and other antifreeze compounds? Given the surface conditions of Mars, it is unlikely that pure water could either exist in its liquid state or have shaped Mars’ fluid erosional landforms (gullies, channels, and valley networks). More likely is that Mars’ seepage groundwater contains antifreeze and salt compounds tha...