Characterization of Antifreeze Proteins from Winter Rye

Abstract

12When winter settles upon the landscape and the soil and lakes have frozen, it is important to realize that many biological organisms have frozen too. After a period ofacclimatization to cold autumn temperatures and short daylengths, multicellular organisms ranging from fungi to perennial plants to frogs develop the ability to survive subzero temperatures by forming ice within their tissues. Freezing does not occur throughout these organisms; instead, ice forms only outside the cells in specific locations within the tissues.