Alaska Dispatch

Imagine -- ice cream without freezer burn, freeze-resistant strawberries, the ability to pour concrete in cold weather and nontoxic deicing solutions for aircraft. Thanks to a breakthrough discovery about a nearly freeze-proof Alaskan bug -- the beetle Upis ceramboides -- scientists may be one step closer to creating such realities.

Scientists have known for years that beetles could resist seriously cold, subzero weather -- as low as minus 104 Fahrenheit. But they thought it was due to a protein-based antifreeze molecule that altered the freezing point of the bug's blood. Pursuing that theory, they spent four unsuccessful years trying to isolate just such a protein molecule in the Upis beetle -- putting the bug blood in a Jell-O-type goo and using electrodes in search of protein molecules with cold-adaptive properties -- until one of the scientists questioned whether they should be looking for a protein at all, said Marie Gilbert, information officer with the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, which co-participated in the study with scientists from the University of Notre Dame.

With one simple test came the research team's "aha!" moment. It wasn't proteins that allowed the beetles to survive, but a molecule called xylomannan made of sugar and fat. Smaller than proteins, the sugar and fat molecules may be able to become part of the cell wall, creating an insulation layer like a down coat for humans, Gilbert said, where antifreeze molecules made of proteins may not fit into cell membranes.

The discovery has scientists wondering how many other places such molecules might exist, and thinking about the possibility for human applications. Perhaps the most significant development would be the ability to put tissue and organs into suspended animation during transport, thus stopping the metabolic process of degradation, Gilbert said.

(The Upis beetle was not available for comment.)

Contact Jill Burke at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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