Antifreeze Peptides and Glycopeptides, and Their Derivatives: Potential Uses in Biotechnology

• Main Authors: Jeong Kyu Bang, Jun Hyuck Lee, Ran N. Murugan, Sung Gu Lee, Hackwon Do, Hye Yeon Koh, Hye-eun Shim, Hyun-cheol Kim, Hak Jun Kim
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Antarctic; Arctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.361.3743; http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/6/2013/pdf/

Abstract: Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) and glycoproteins (AFGPs), collectively called AF(G)Ps, constitute a diverse class of proteins found in various Arctic and Antarctic fish, as well as in amphibians, plants, and insects. These compounds possess the ability to inhibit the formation of ice and are therefore essential to the survival of many marine teleost fishes that routinely encounter sub-zero temperatures. Owing to this property, AF(G)Ps have potential applications in many areas such as storage of cells or tissues at low temperature, ice slurries for refrigeration systems, and food storage. In contrast to AFGPs, which are composed of repeated tripeptide units (Ala-Ala-Thr)n with minor sequence variations, AFPs possess very different primary, secondary, and tertiary structures. The isolation and purification of AFGPs is laborious, costly, and often results in mixtures, making characterization difficult. Recent structural investigations into the mechanism by which linear and cyclic AFGPs inhibit ice crystallization have led to significant progress toward the synthesis and assessment of several synthetic mimics of AFGPs. This review