China Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine ›› 2022, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (12): 4715-4724.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2022.12.021

• Genetics and Breeding • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Research Progress on Fish Antifreeze Proteins in Cryopreservation of Animals Semen, Cells and Embryos

XUE Li'e, CAO Jiacheng, CHEN Dejun, RAO Yongyong, LIN Ruiyi, XIAO Tianfang, FANG Shaoming   

  1. College of Animal Science (College of Bee Science), Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
  • Received:2022-05-11 Online:2022-12-05 Published:2022-12-01

Abstract: Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) are proteins that inhibit the growth of ice crystals and improve the body’s antifreeze function.AFPs are widely distributed and have been identified in animals, plants, bacteria, and fungi.Until now, accumulating researches have been performed on fish AFPs which are expected to be applied in the production process of animal husbandry.Previous studies indicated that fish AFPs possess thermal hysteresis activity and ice crystal recrystallization inhibition activity.Fish AFPs are consisted of AFPⅠ, AFPⅡ, AFPⅢ, AFPⅣ and antifreeze glycoprotein (AFGP).Although these AFPs exert the same antifreeze effect, differences in compositions and structures were presented and homologous sequences can not be found in the corresponding genes.The antifreeze mechanism of fish AFPs mainly includes adsorption-inhibition theory, rigid body energy theory, inclusion complex anchoring theory, affinity interaction coupled agglomeration theory and so on.Fish AFPs can protect sperm by maintaining cell membrane integrity, reducing reactive oxygen species production and DNA damage in cryopreserve of human, fish, livestock and mouse semen.In cryopreservation of oocytes, spermatogonia, red blood cells and animal embryos, fish AFPs can improve the preservation effect by preventing ice crystallization and antioxidant function.In this paper, the authors summarized the species, structural characteristics and mechanism of fish AFPs, and summarized the application progress of fish AFPs in cryopreservation of semen, oocytes, spermatogonial cells, red blood cells and embryos, in order to provide scientific basis for the application of fish AFPs as candidate antifreeze agents in germplasm conservation and animal husbandry production.

Key words: antifreeze proteins(AFPs); semen; cells; embryos; cryopreservation

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