title: Activity of short segments of Type I antifreeze protein.
abstract: In this work, we present a study on the antifreeze activity of short segments of a Type I antifreeze protein, instead of the whole protein. This approach simplifies the correlation between antifreeze protein characteristics, such as hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity, and the effect of these characteristics on the antifreeze mechanism. Three short polypeptides of Type I AFP have been synthesized. Their antifreeze activity and interactions with water and ice crystals have been analyzed by various techniques such as circular dichroism spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, and osmometry. It is shown that one short segment of Type I AFP has an antifreeze activity of about 60% of the native protein activity. In this work, we demonstrate that short segments of Type I AFPs possess nonzero thermal hysteresis and result in modifications in the growth habits and growth rates of ice. This approach enables the preparation of large quantities of short AFP segments at low cost with high antifreeze activity, and opens the possibility of developing the commercial potential of AFPs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel.
authors.forename: Hagit
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kun
authors.forename: Yitzhak
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mastai
mesh_terms: D021322:Antifreeze Proteins, Type I / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D002151:Calorimetry; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D007053:Ice; D007700:Kinetics; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D010316:Particle Size; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D021322:Antifreeze Proteins, Type I; D007053:Ice; D014867:Water