Inhibition of ice melting by antifreeze protein

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Antifreeze protein (AFP), which has been discovered in several organisms living in cold regions, has a function to inhibit ice growth. AFP is also expected to inhibit ice melting. However, there are few reports on melting inhibition by AFP. In this study, melting of ice crystal was examined using a negative crystal system, where AFP solution is surrounded by an ice crystal, based on the hypothesis that the melting inhibition can be detected only in a negative crystal system. The results showed that AFP can inhibit ice melting at temperatures even above the equilibrium melting temperature by acting on specific ice crystal planes.