29.8. Antifreeze Mechanism
As we have seen, there is a strong selective pressure toward the antifreeze mechanism, but how does it actually work on a molecular scale?
Overall, the antifreeze mechanism can be divided into two subprocesses: the recognition and binding of AFP to ice and the subsequent suppression of the freezing point (or rather, ice growth temperature). AFPs are not classified as enzymes. They do not catalyze any process of ligand and receptor, but rather exert their function in the boundary layer between phases of the same compound (Krishnan and Yeh, 2010). This could create a problem for recognition, but hexagonal ice has effects on the surrounding water that make specific recognition possible. Even individual crystal planes have ...
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