How do Antarctic notothenioid fishes cope with internal ice?

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TitleHow do Antarctic notothenioid fishes cope with internal ice? A novel function for antifreeze glycoproteinsAbstractAntarctic fishes survive freezing through the secretion of antifreeze glycoproteins (AFGPs), which bind to ice crystals to inhibit their growth. This mode of action implies that ice crystals must be present internally for AFGPs to function. The entry and internal accumulation of ice is likely to be lethal, however, so how do fishes survive in its presence? We propose a novel function for the interaction between internal ice and AFGPs, namely the promotion of ice uptake by splenic phagocytes. We show here that i) external mucus of Antarctic notothenioids contains AFGPs and thus has a potential protective role against ice entry, ii) AFGPs are distributed widely through the extracellular space ensuring that they are likely to come into immediate contact with ice that penetrates their protective barriers, and iii) using AFGP-coated nanoparticles as a proxy for AFGP adsorbed onto ice, we suggest that internal ice crystals are removed from the circulation through phagocytosis, primarily in the spleen. We argue that intracellular sequestration in the spleen minimizes the risks associated with circulating ice and enables the fish to store the ice until it can be dealt with at a later date, possibly by melting during a seasonal warming event. Copyright â"' Antarctic Science Ltd 2011.AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by grants from the Human Frontier Science Programme (RGP003/2009-C) to MAB and ALD, the Science Foundation Ireland (05/CE3/B754) to VG and RN, and the Faculty Research Development Fund (University of Auckland) to CWE. We thank Martin Middleditch and Natasha Lucas for mass spectrometry analysis, Jennifer Chen for histological preparation, Antarctica New Zealand for logistical support, and staff and colleagues at Scott Base (Antarctica) for their assistance in the field. We are grateful to Vivian Ward for assistance with the images. The constructive comments of the reviewers are also gratefully acknowledged.

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1st AuthorEvans, C.AuthorEvans, C.Gubala, V.Nooney, R.Williams, D.Brimble, M.Devries, A.Year2011JournalAntarctic ScienceVolume23Number1Pages57-64DOI10.1017/S0954102010000635URLhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/recor.....7dcb01cbad5f8e47dccfe8864Keywordsadaptationbehavioral responsefreezingice crystalinhibitionperciformproteinseasonal variationsecretionsurvival, Pagothenia borchgrevinkiPisces, rank5Author KeywordsAFGPnanoparticlesnotothenioidPagothenia borchgrevinkiphagocytosis

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TypeArticleCitationEvans, C., Gubala, V., Nooney, R., Williams, D., Brimble, M. and Devries, A. (2011). How do Antarctic notothenioid fishes cope with internal ice? A novel function for antifreeze glycoproteins. Antarctic Science, 23(1): 57-64 IdentifierEvans2011Relevancerank5