Email to a friend Researchers discover which organs in Antarctic
fish produce antifreeze Life Sciences Editor photo to enlarge by
L. Brian Stauffer “Christina” C. Cheng, a professor of animal
biology at Illinois, and colleagues have discovered that
antifreeze glycoproteins originate in the exocrine pancreas and
the stomach of Antarctic fish, not the liver as long presumed. —
Thirty-five years ago Arthur DeVries of the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign first documented antifreeze
glycoproteins (AFGPs) in Antarctic notothenioid fishes. This
month three colleagues report they’ve solved the ensuing, long-
running mystery of where these AFGPs, which allow the fish to
survive in icy waters, are produced. “Ever since the discovery
of these antifreeze proteins, it was assumed they had to be
produced in the liver, since the vertebrate liver is well known
as a source of secreted plasma protein, so there was no reason
to think otherwise” said Chi-Hing “Christina” C. Cheng, a
professor of animal biology. “It turn