Control of freezing of water at subzero temperatures in woody plant cells

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H04615
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Environmental agriculture(including landscape science)
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Arakawa Keita 北海道大学, 農学研究院, 准教授 (00241381)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 福士 幸治 北海道大学, 農学研究院, 准教授 (60218906)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 氷核細菌 / 氷核タンパク質 / ポリフェノール / 氷核活性 / 氷核形成阻害活性 / 過冷却 / inaA

Outline of Final Research Achievements

It is well known that existence of the ice nucleation substances (ice nucleators) such as silver iodide and ice nucleation bacteria promote freezing of supercooled water. Because these substances catalyze freezing of water, ice nucleation activity (INA) increases freezing temperature of the solution. On the other hand, recent studies showed that some polyphenols repressed INA of ice nucleators and depressed freezing temperature of the solution containing ice nucleators. Existence of these polyphenols (anti-INA polyphenols) maintained supercooling state of the solution. For study on the anti-INA process by anti-INA polyphenols, His-inaA was highly purified from the soluble fraction prepared from the crude extracts of Escherichia coli cells overexpressing His-inaA and soluble form of His-inaA was characterized. INA was detected in the soluble form of His-inaA and repressed by addition of some anti-INA polyphenols.

Free Research Field

樹木生理学