Ice-binding site of snow mold fungus antifreeze protein deviates from structural regularity and high conservation.

ABSTRACT: Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) are found in organisms ranging from fish to bacteria, where they serve different functions to facilitate survival of their host. AFPs that protect freeze-intolerant fish and insects from internal ice growth bind to ice using a regular array of well-conserved residues/motifs. Less is known about the role of AFPs in freeze-tolerant species, which might be to beneficially alter the structure of ice in or around the host. Here we report the 0.95-Å high-resolution crystal structure of a 223-residue secreted AFP from the snow mold fungus Typhula ishikariensis. Its main structural element is an irregular β-helix with six loops of 18 or more residues that lies alongside an α-helix. β-Helices have independently evolved as AFPs on several occasions and seem ideally structu

SUBMITTER: Kondo H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3386094 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature