Water expands when it freezes. Anyone who has ever left a soda can or a water bottle in the freezer for too long has been witness to this fact. So how surviving plants and animals to severe temperatures? Some insects exposed to freezing temperatures can be adapted to survive the extreme climate. A recent study describes an entirely new class of molecule isolated from a beetle antifreeze Alaska tolerant to freezing. The work has been carried out by Kent Walters and colleagues at the University of Notre Dame.
Interestingly, the antifreeze molecule described by the research team is different from the factors previously described in that it is not a protein, but a combination of saccharides and fatty acids, which are other types of biomolecules.
The chemical composition of the substance might prove suitable for commercial production of the compound, it is possible to synthesize quite easily in the laboratory small chains of sugars, making their production cheaper and easier than biologically shaped molecules.
antifreeze molecules are present in many organisms, including fish, insects, plants, fungi and bacteria. The most active antifreeze proteins known and had been described in certain insects that avoid freezing, these proteins allow them to survive temperatures order of 60 degrees Celsius below zero and even colder. However, this is the first documented isolation of an insect antifreeze from a frost-tolerant, ie able to survive freezing.
The potential applications of this new class of antifreeze are abundant. As for cryopreservation, the substance could enhance the survivability of cells and tissues of other organisms under freezing conditions.
taken from:
http://www.amazings.com/ciencia/noticias/080110e.html
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