Antifreeze proteins for low temperature protection and preservation of living material

细胞、组织和器官的低温保存在农业和医学上都有广泛的应用，但并不是所有的生物产品都可以冷冻。加拿大工业科学家现在已经设计出专门的介质和设备，将这些冷冻敏感的活体样本保持在0摄氏度以下，而不进行冷冻，处于“冷冻”过程。尽管这一过程在实验室看起来很有希望，但为了确保活组织在零下温度下的长期生存能力，并将这项技术推向市场，需要额外的保险。这将通过在存储介质中添加抗冻蛋白(AFP)来提供。黄曲霉毒素是由越冬昆虫产生的，以防止冰冻对它们的组织造成损害，这正是这项技术正在模仿的过程。为了实现这一目标，将在专门的细菌菌株和绿藻中生产AFP，进行纯化，并将其添加到低温保存介质中。随后，将对细胞、组织和模式生物在零以下的存活率进行安全性和实用性评估，无论是作为单独的蛋白质还是与来自耐冻生物的其他AFP结合。这项研究将使加拿大和加拿大的工业受益。毫无疑问，AFP补充剂为农业实践提供了巨大的希望，一位咨询医学专家将其称为未来组织保存和移植的“游戏规则改变者”。

Low temperature preservation of cells, tissues and organs has widespread applications for both agriculture and medicine but not all biologicals can be frozen. Canadian industrial scientists have now devised specialized media and equipment to keep these freeze-sensitive living samples below 0 °C without freezing, in a "cryostasis" process. Although this process appears promising in the laboratory, in order to ensure the long term viability of living tissue at sub-zero temperatures, and to bring this technology to the market place, additional insurance is needed. This will be provided by supplementing the storage medium with antifreeze proteins (AFPs). AFPs are produced by overwintering insects to prevent freeze damage to their tissues, exactly the process that is being imitated in this technology. To achieve this goal the AFPs will be produced in specialized bacterial strains and in green algae, purified, and added to the low temperature preservation media. Subsequently, the below zero survival of cells, tissues and model organisms will be assessed for safety and utility, both as individual proteins and in combination with other AFPs from freeze-tolerant organisms. This research will benefit Canada and Canadian industry. There is no doubt that AFP supplementation offers great promise for agricultural practice and as well, a consulting medical expert dubbed it a "game changer" for future tissue preservation and transplants.