X-Message-Number: 1252
Subject: CRYONICS ACS Science News September 92
From:  (Edgar W. Swank)
Date: Fri, 02 Oct 92 07:24:34 PDT

SCIENCE REPORT
[Reprinted from the September 92 Immortalist]
 
The New York Times reports that DNA Plant Technology Corp of
Cinaminson NJ, a biotech company specializing in developing foods that
stay fresh longer, has utilized genetic engineering to duplicate an
"anti-freeze" protein that winter flounder produce to block ice
crystals from forming.
 
Anti-freeze proteins are produced naturally by fish that live
inextremely cold water.  The proteins block ice crystals by fouling up
the orderly geometry of ice seeds.
 
Dr.  Jon Bedbrook, executive VP of DNA Plant Technology says the
crystals develop when water molecules accumulate and freeze on a tiny
particle that serve as a seed for the ice.  However, the molecules
settle down only if the can accumulate on one another in neat lines
and rows.  The anti-freeze proteins prevent that by attaching to a
first layer of water molecules and creating a surface that is too
irregular for other molecules to accumulate.
 
Although scientists have known about anti-freeze proteins for years
they had remained little more than a curiosity as extracting
commercial quantities from Arctic fish would be prohibitively
expensive.
 
The new protein however, can be produced by simply splicing the gene
into yeast, bacteria and plants.

--
 (Edgar W. Swank)
SPECTROX SYSTEMS +1.408.252.1005  Silicon Valley, Ca


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