More on Freezing
An antifreeze protein produced by Antarctic fish has been synthesised in a more robust form by US researchers. The breakthrough will allow much larger amounts of the proteins to be produced for uses as diverse as storing human tissue, making concrete frost resistant, and preventing frozen food going mushy.
The class of proteins - known as antifreeze glycoproteins (AFGPs) - have been widely studied. Without them, ice crystals would form in the fishes' blood and tissues, rupturing the delicate membranes and internal structures of cells. However these fish, cod and notothenioids, have been the only source of AFGPs until now.
"Supply is a major problem," says Ann Oliver, an AFGP researcher at University of California, Davis, "because obtaining the protein from fish is an extremely expensive process."
The new work, by Robert Ben and his colleagues at the State University of New York, Binghamton, should change that. The new technique, "allows the routine production of more chemically and biologically stable AFGP analogues in fairly sizeable quantities," says Ben.
Link:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991176