[Antifreeze glycoproteins in fishes: structure, mode of action and possible applications]

Two types of antifreezes have been isolated from polar and northern temperate fishes so far. They are either glycopeptides or peptides. Whereas these proteins have only a very small effect on the melting temperature of ice, the temperature of these fish can fall to nearly 1 degree below the melting point before ice crystals grow. This phenomenon is called thermal hysteresis, in contrast to the normal colligative effect of solutes. All Antarctic notothenioids (perches) investigated so far have the typical antifreeze glycoproteins (AFGP) with the tripeptide Ala-Ala-Thr and the disaccharide Gal-GalNAc. In the Antarctic silverfish Pleuragramma antarcticum there could be found a novel GlcNAc containing antifreeze glycoprotein, the PAGP. The antifreezes not only lower the freezing temperature, but they also retard recrystallization on frozen storage. Antifreeze proteins thus could be useful for biotechnology and cryomedicine in the future. Since some are now synthesized chemically or by genetic engineering, they no longer have to be isolated from fish blood.