• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.159-169
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• 2011

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) have ice binding affinity, depress freezing temperature and inhibit ice recystallization which protect cellular membranes in polar organisms. Recent structural studies of antifreeze proteins have significantly expanded our understanding of the structure-function relationship and ice crystal growth inhibition. Although AFPs (Type I-IV AFP from fish, insect AFP and Plant AFP) have completely different fold and no sequence homology, they share a common feature of their surface area for ice binding property. The conserved ice-binding sites are relatively flat and hydrophobic. For example, Type I AFP has an amphipathic, single ${\alpha}$-helix and has regularly spaced Thr-Ala residues which make direct interaction with oxygen atoms of ice crystals. Unlike Type I AFP, Type II and III AFP are compact globular proteins that contain a flat ice-binding patch on the surface. Type II and Type III AFP show a remarkable structural similarity with the sugar binding lectin protein and C-terminal domain of sialic acid synthase, respectively. Type IV is assumed to form a four-helix bundle which has sequence similarity with apolipoprotein. The results of our modeling suggest an ice-binding induced structural change of Type IV AFP. Insect AFP has ${\beta}$-helical structure with a regular array of Thr-X-Thr motif. Threonine residues of each Thr-X-Thr motif fit well into the ice crystal lattice and provide a good surface-surface complementarity. This review focuses on the structural characteristics and details of the ice-binding mechanism of antifreeze proteins.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.106-112
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• 2018

Ice-binding proteins have an affinity for ice. They create a gap between the melting and freezing points by inhibiting the growth of ice, known as thermal hysteresis (TH). Interestingly, moderately active LeIBP and hyperactive FfIBP are almost identical in primary and tertiary structures, but differ in TH activity. The TH of FfIBP is tenfold higher than that of LeIBP, due to a subtle difference in their ice-binding motifs. To further evaluate the difference in TH, the interactions were investigated by ice-etching and molecular docking. Ice-etching showed that FfIBP binds to the primary and secondary prism, pyramidal, and basal planes; previously, LeIBP was found to bind to the basal and primary prism planes. Docking analysis using shape complementarity (Sc) showed that the hyperactive FfIBP had higher Sc values for all four ice planes than LeIBP, which is comparable with TH. Docking can be used to describe the hyperactivity of IBPs.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1989-1996
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• 2015

Ice-binding proteins (IBPs) can inhibit ice recrystallization (IR), a major cause of cell death during cryopreservation. IBPs are hypothesized to improve cell viability after cryopreservation by alleviating the cryoinjury caused by IR. In our previous studies, we showed that supplementation of the freezing medium with the recombinant IBP of the Arctic yeast Glaciozyma sp. (designated as LeIBP) could reduce post-thaw hemolysis of human red blood cells and increase the survival of cryopreserved diatoms. Here, we showed that LeIBP could improve the viability of cryopreserved mammalian cells. Human cervical cancer cells (HeLa), mouse fibroblasts (NIH/3T3), human preosteoblasts (MC3T3-E1), Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO-K1), and human keratinocytes (HaCaT) were evaluated. These mammalian cells were frozen in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)/fetal bovine serum (FBS) solution with or without 0.1 mg/ml LeIBP at a cooling rate of -1℃/min in a -80℃ freezer overnight. The minimum effective concentration (0.1 mg/ml) of LeIBP was determined, based on the viability of HeLa cells after treatment with LeIBP during cryopreservation and the IR inhibition assay results. The post-thaw viability of mammalian cells was examined. In all cases, cell viability was significantly enhanced by more than 10% by LeIBP supplementation in 5% DMSO/5% FBS: viability increased by 20% for HeLa cells, 28% for NIH/3T3 cells, 21% for MC3T3-E1, 10% for CHO-K1, and 20% for HaCaT. Furthermore, addition of LeIBP reduced the concentrations of toxic DMSO and FBS down to 5%. Therefore, we demonstrated that LeIBP can increase the viability of cryopreserved mammalian cells by inhibiting IR.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.303-306
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• 2014

Antifreeze proteins (AFP) inhibit ice growth to permit the survival of polar organisms in the cold environments. The recombinant AFP from an Antarctic bacterium, Flavobacterium frigoris PS1, FfIBP (Flavobacterium frigoris ice-binding protein), was produced using Pichia pastoris expression system. The optimum fermentation temperature ($30^{\circ}C$) and pH (5) for FfIBP production were determined using a fed-batch culture system. The maximal cell density and purified FfIBP were 112 g/L and 70 mg/L, respectively. The thermal hysteresis (TH) activity (0.85) of FfIBP obtained using a glycerol-methanol fed-batch culture system was 2-fold higher than that of the LeIBP (Leucosporidium ice-binding protein). This work allows for large-scale production of FfIBP, which could be extended to further application studies using recombinant AFPs.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.607-615
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• 2003

Many organisms are known to survive in icy environments. These include both over wintering terrestrial insects and plants as well the marine fish inhabiting high latitudes. The adaptation of these organisms is both a fascinating and important topic in biology. Marine teleosts in particular, can encounter ice-laden seawater that is approximately $1^{\circ}C$ colder than the colligative freezing point of their body fluids. These animals produce a unique group of proteins, the antifreeze proteins (AFPs) or antifreeze glycoproteins (AFGPs) that absorb the ice nuclei and prevent ice crystal growth. Presently, there are at least four different AFP types and one AFGP type that are isolated from a wide variety of fish. Despite their functional similarity, there is no apparent common protein homology or ice-binding motifs among these proteins, except that the surface-surface complementarity between the protein and ice are important for binding. The remarkable diversity of these proteins and their odd phylogenetic distribution would suggest that these proteins might have evolved recently in response to sea level glaciations just 1-2 million years ago in the northern hemisphere and 10-30 million years ago around Antarctica. Winter flounder, Pleuronectes americanus, has been used as a popular model to study the regulation of AFP gene expression. It has a built-in annual cycle of AFP expression controlled negatively by the growth hormone. The signal transduction pathways, transcription factors and promoter elements involved in this process have been studied in our laboratory and these studies will be presented.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.185-194
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• 2018

The aim of this study was performed to evaluate the effects of ice-binding protein from the arctic yeast Leucosporidium (LeIBP) supplementation on cryopreservation of boar sperm. The collected semen was diluted ($1.5{\times}10^8/ml$) in lactose egg yolk (LEY) and cooled at $5^{\circ}C$ for 3 h. The cooled semen was then diluted ($1{\times}10^8/ml$) in LeIBP containing LEY with 9% glycerol and maintained at $5^{\circ}C$ for 30 min. The semen was divided into six experimental groups (control, 0.001, 0.005, 0.01, 0.05 and 0.1 mg/ml of LeIBP). The straws were kept on above the liquid nitrogen ($LN_2$) vapors for 20 minutes and then plunged into $LN_2$. After thawing, computer-assisted sperm analysis was used for sperm motility and flow cytometry was performed to assess the viability, acrosome integrity (FITC-PSA/PI), ROS (DCF/PI), lipid peroxidation (BODIPY C11/PI) and apoptosis (Annexin V/PI), respectively. No significant responses were observed for sperm motility. However, sperm viability was significantly increased on 0.05 and 0.1 mg/ml of LeIBP groups compared to control (P < 0.05). In addition, acrosome integrity was significantly increases LeIBP groups (P < 0.05) and both ROS and lipid peroxidation level were lower in all LeIBP groups than those of control (P < 0.05). On the other hand, a significant higher apoptosis rate was observed in 0.05 and 0.1 mg/ml of LeIBP groups compared to control (P < 0.05). It can be assumed that a supplementation of LeIBP in boar sperm freezing extender is an effective method to increase the sperm qualities after cryopreservation.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.3137-3140
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• 2013

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.23-29
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• 2013

The mechanical behavior of frozen soils is different from that of unfrozen soils due to the phase change between water and ice. The strength characteristics of frozen soils are governed by the intrinsic material properties such as grain size, ice and water content, air bubbles, and by externally imposed testing conditions such as temperature, freezing time, and strain rate. Especially, the strength of the frozen soils is generally higher than that of unfrozen soils due to ice binding capacity with soil particles, and is strongly affected by a highly complex interaction between the solid soil skeleton and the pore matrix, composed of ice and unfrozen water. In this study, the direct shear test and unconfined compression test are carried out inside of a large-scaled freezing chamber, and the relationships between cohesion and unconfined compression strength under various freezing temperature conditions are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.46-50
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• 2022

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) bind to the ice crystals and then are able to inhibit the freezing of body fluid at subzero temperatures. Type III AFPs are categorized into three subgroups, QAE1, QAE2, and SP isoforms, based on differences in their isoelectric points. We prepared the QAE2 (AFP11) and SP (AFP6) isoforms of the notched-fin eelpout AFP and their mutant constructs and determined their temperature gradients of amide proton chemical shifts (𝚫δ/𝚫T) using NMR. The nfeAFP11 (QAE2) has the distinct 𝚫δ/𝚫T pattern of the first 3₁₀ helix compared to the QAE1 isoforms. The nfeAFP6 (SP) has the deviated 𝚫δ/𝚫T values of many residues, indicating its backbone conformational distortion. The study suggests the distortion in the H-bonding interactions and backbone conformation that is important for TH activities.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.345-349
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• 2015

Antifreeze proteins (AFP) inhibit growth and recrystallization of ice, and permit organisms to survive in cold environments. The AFP from an Antarctic bacterium, Flavobacterium frigoris PS1, FfIBP (Flavobacterium frigoris icebinding protein), was produced in E. coli using a cold shock induction system. The culture temperature was shifted from $37^{\circ}C$ to $15^{\circ}C$ and a 20 L culture scale was used. The final weights of dried cell and FfIBP were estimated to be 126 g and 8.4 g, respectively. The thermal hysteresis (TH) activity ($1.53^{\circ}C$) of the produced FfIBP was 3.6-fold higher than that of the LeIBP (Leucosporidium ice-binding protein) produced in Picha. The current study demonstrates that large-scale production of FfIBP was successful and the result could be extended to further application studies using recombinant AFPs.