Hyperactive ice-binding proteins stabilize cell membranes and improve resistance to dehydration stress in...

Ice-binding proteins (IBPs) are known to modulate ice growth and promote freezing tolerance and have recently attracted attention due to their cell-protective functions under freezing or low-temperature conditions. In this study, we demonstrate that IBP expression improves resistance to dehydration stress in Caenorhabditis elegans. After 30 min of drying, transgenic worms expressing a high-activity fungal IBP (TisIBP8) showed a modest but significant increase in survival compared with wild-type worms. Furthermore, imaging revealed reduced muscle-cell damage in the TisIBP8-expressing worms while synchrotron radiation infrared microspectroscopy showed membrane structural changes during dehydration were attenuated by TisIBP8 expression. These findings suggest that IBPs exert protective effects by stabilizing cell membranes independent of ice binding, therefore broadening the potential applications of IBPs for biological preservation under nonfreezing stress conditions.