Antifreeze Protein Found in Antarctic Ocean Fishes

For a long time now, researchers were unclear about how fish in the Arctic Ocean were able to survive in 1.8 °C, when the freezing point of fish blood is roughly around minus 0.9 °C. About 50 years ago, special frost protection proteins, also known as the antifreeze proteins, were found in the blood of these fish. Although they figured out their question of how they were able to survive, another question quickly came to mind of how these antifreeze proteins worked in the blood of the fish. Bochum researchers were able to use a terahertz spectroscopy technique to figure out how these proteins worked. By using the technique, researchers recorded the motion of the water molecules and proteins, and the article stated, “Thus, the working group has already been able to show that water molecules, which usually perform a permanent dance in liquid water, and constantly enter new bonds, dance a more ordered dance in the presence of proteins.” To further more explain, the water molecules have a different motion and perform a different function with the presence of the proteins than if it were in liquid water.

This was a very interesting article to read and discuss because asking about how the fish were able to survive in the 1.8 °C environment was a question that many people often asked themselves. To find out that the fish survived with an antifreeze protein proves that science has a lot to offer us in this world.

Source: Ruhr-University Bochum. "Why Fish Don't Freeze in the Arctic Ocean: Chemists Unmask Natural Antifreeze." Science Daily 25 August 2010. 25 August 2010 .