Antifreeze proteins bind to ice crystals and modify their growth. These proteins show great diversity in structure, and they have been found in a variety of organisms. The ice-binding mechanisms of antifreeze proteins are not completely understood. Recent findings on the evolution of antifreeze proteins and on their structures and mechanisms of action have provided new understanding of these proteins in different contexts. The purpose of this review is to present the developments in contrasting research areas and unite them in order to gain further insight into the structure and function of the antifreeze proteins.

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Distinct antifreeze polypeptides (AFP) were isolated from the skin of the winter flounder, Pleuronectes americanus, by gel filtration and reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography. In parallel, several cDNA clones were isolated from a skin cDNA library using a liver AFP cDNA probe. Both protein and DNA sequence analyses indicate that flounder skin contains several distinct but homologous alanine-rich AFPs. Although the skin type AFPs contain 11 similar amino acid repeats found in the secretory liver type AFPs, the skin type AFPs are mature polypeptides lacking both the signal and prosequences, indicating that they may function intracellularly. The skin type AFP is significantly less active in thermal hysteretic activity than the liver type AFP. Genomic Southern analysis indicates that like the liver type AFP genes, there are multiple copies (30-40 copies) of skin type AFP. Although the liver type AFP genes are specifically expressed in the liver and to a lesser extent in intestine, the skin type AFP genes are expressed in all tissues examined including the liver and abundantly in exterior tissues, i.e. skin, scales, fin, and gills, suggesting an important protecting role in these exterior tissues.

Fishes living in icy seawater are usually protected from freezing by endogenous antifreeze proteins (AFPs) that bind to ice crystals and stop them from growing. The scattered distribution of five highly diverse AFP types across phylogenetically disparate fish species is puzzling. The appearance of radically different AFPs in closely related species has been attributed to the rapid, independent evolution of these proteins in response to natural selection caused by sea level glaciations within the last 20 million years. In at least one instance the same type of simple repetitive AFP has independently originated in two distant species by convergent evolution. But, the isolated occurrence of three very similar type II AFPs in three distantly related species (herring, smelt and sea raven) cannot be explained by this mechanism. These globular, lectin-like AFPs have a unique disulfide-bonding pattern, and share up to 85% identity in their amino acid sequences, with regions of even higher identity in their genes. A thorough search of current databases failed to find a homolog in any other species with greater than 40% amino acid sequence identity. Consistent with this result, genomic Southern blots showed the lectin-like AFP gene was absent from all other fish species tested. The remarkable conservation of both intron and exon sequences, the lack of correlation between evolutionary distance and mutation rate, and the pattern of silent vs non-silent codon changes make it unlikely that the gene for this AFP pre-existed but was lost from most branches of the teleost radiation. We propose instead that lateral gene transfer has resulted in the occurrence of the type II AFPs in herring, smelt and sea raven and allowed these species to survive in an otherwise lethal niche.

Rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) inhabit inshore waters along the North American Atlantic coast. During the winter, these waters are frequently ice covered and can reach temperatures as low as -1.9 degrees C. To prevent freezing, smelt accumulate high levels of glycerol, which lower the freezing point via colligative means, and antifreeze proteins (AFP). The up-regulation of the antifreeze response (both glycerol and AFP) occurs in early fall, when water temperatures are 5 degrees -6 degrees C. The accumulation of glycerol appears to be the main mechanism of freeze resistance in smelt because it contributes more to the lowering of the body's freezing point than the activity of the AFP (0.5 degrees C vs. 0.25 degrees C for glycerol and AFP, respectively) at a water temperature of -1.5 degrees C. Moreover, AFP in smelt appears to be a safeguard mechanism to prevent freezing when glycerol levels are low. Significant increases in activities of the liver enzymes glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH), alanine aminotransferase (AlaAT), and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) during the initiation of glycerol production and significant correlations between enzyme activities and plasma glycerol levels suggest that these enzymes are closely associated with the synthesis and maintenance of elevated glycerol levels for use as an antifreeze. These findings add further support to the concept that carbon for glycerol is derived from amino acids.

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In order to probe the interaction between an invading microorganism and its host, we have investigated differential gene expression in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) experimentally infected with the pathogen Aeromonas salmonicida, the causative agent of furunculosis. Subtractive cDNA libraries were constructed by suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) from 3 immune-relevant tissues at 2 time points during the infection process. Both forward- and reverse-subtracted libraries were generated, and approximately 200 clones were sequenced from each library, giving a total of 1778 expressed sequence tags (ESTs), which were annotated according to functional categories and deposited in GenBank (BQ035314-BQ037059). Numerous genes involved in signal transduction, innate immunity, and other processes have been uncovered in the subtractive libraries. These include known acute-phase reactants, along with more novel genes encoding proteins such as tachylectin, hepcidin, precerebellin-like protein, O-methyltransferase, a putative saxitoxin-binding protein, and others. A subset of genes that were represented in the subtracted libraries was further analyzed by virtual Northern, or reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays to verify their differential expression as a result of infection.

The diverse receptors of the C-type lectin superfamily play key roles in innate immunity. In mammals, cell surface receptors with C-type lectin domains are involved in pathogen recognition and in immune response, and in some cases are exploited by pathogens to gain entry into cells. This study reports on sequence and expression analysis of three paralogous group II C-type lectins from the teleost fish Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Each of the receptors showed similarity to immune-relevant mammalian receptors in terms of amino acid sequence and overall organization within the C-type lectin-like domain (CTLD). Two of the three have cytoplasmic motifs consistent with the immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs (ITAM), which are known to modulate downstream functions in leukocytes. All three C-type lectin receptors were expressed in multiple tissues of healthy fish, including peripheral blood leukocytes and salmon head kidney cells (SHK-1). Each receptor was up-regulated in salmon liver in response to infection by Aeromonas salmonicida and one receptor was substantially up-regulated in cultured SHK-1 cells in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Putative binding sites for the CAAT-enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP) family of transcription factors in the regulatory regions of these C-type lectin genes may mediate their response to bacteria and LPS in salmon leukocytes. The identification of these types of receptors in distinct populations of cells within the immune system will provide important markers for identifying and categorizing the state of differentiation or activation of these cells and lead to further understanding of the interaction between the salmon host and multiple pathogens.