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A bacterial ice-binding protein from the Vostok ice core

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Abstract

Bacterial and yeast isolates recovered from a deep Antarctic ice core were screened for proteins with ice-binding activity, an indicator of adaptation to icy environments. A bacterial strain recovered from glacial ice at a depth of 3,519 m, just above the accreted ice from Subglacial Lake Vostok, was found to produce a 54 kDa ice-binding protein (GenBank EU694412) that is similar to ice-binding proteins previously found in sea ice diatoms, a snow mold, and a sea ice bacterium. The protein has the ability to inhibit the recrystallization of ice, a phenotype that has clear advantages for survival in ice.

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Acknowledgments

We thank A. Chien, K. Schegg, B. Arnold for valuable assistance, S. Doyle for microscopic imaging, and J. Priscu for discussion. This work was partially supported by an NIH IMBRE grant. B. C. is supported by NSF grants EAR-0525567 and OPP-0636828.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, 89154, USA

    James A. Raymond

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Brent C. Christner

  3. Center for Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics, Pennsylvania State University, 310 Wartik Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Stephan C. Schuster

Authors
  1. James A. Raymond
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  2. Brent C. Christner
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  3. Stephan C. Schuster
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Correspondence to James A. Raymond.

Additional information

Communicated by T. Matsunaga.

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Raymond, J.A., Christner, B.C. & Schuster, S.C. A bacterial ice-binding protein from the Vostok ice core. Extremophiles 12, 713–717 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-008-0178-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-008-0178-2

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