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 Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=1252