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- Title
Molecular aspects of microbial ice nucleation.
- Authors
Warren, G.; Wolber, P.
- Abstract
Certain organisms nucleate the crystallization of ice. This requires a small volume of water to be induced, probably by lattice-matching with a solid template, to form an 'ice embryo' -- a region sharing at least some of the characteristics of macroscopic ice. It is of particular interest to understand the structure and function of biological structures capable of lattice-matching (or otherwise inducing a quasi-crystalline state). Some strains of the Gram-negative eubacterial genera <em>Erwinia, Pseudomonas</em>, and <em>Xanthomonas</em>, and the mycobionts of certain lichens, display ice-nucleating activity. In bacteria, the activity is conferred <em>by a protein that contains three nested periodicities of</em> repetition, which probably reflects a hierarchy of three motifs of structural repetition. Thus the tertiary <em>structure of the ice-nucleation protein is likely to be regular</em>, consistent with the expectation of its forming a template for lattice-matching. Even within a clonal culture, the <em>nucleating sites formed by bacteria</em> and lichens vary considerably in the threshold temperatures at which they display activity; this indicates wide variations in either the size of the template, or its structural regularity, or both. However, ice-nucleating sites of lichen and bacterial origin are clearly differentiated by their sensitivities to experimental treatments.
- Subjects
ICE microbiology; NUCLEATION; CRYSTALLIZATION; CRYSTAL lattices; EUBACTERIALES; LICHENS
- Publication
Molecular Microbiology, 1991, Vol 5, Issue 2, p239
- ISSN
0950-382X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1365-2958.1991.tb02104.x