In 1969, the first antifreeze protein (AFP) was discovered from the blood plasma of Antarctic Nototheniids. In the past thirty years, different types of AFP have been found in many life forms that exhibit freezing tolerance, such as bacteria, fungi, plants, insects, and vertebrates. These discoveries have evoked us many questions regarding to the antifreeze mechanism and its biological significance for preventing their tissues from freezing damage. At present, ice physicist, biologist, chemist, biochemist, molecular biologist, physiologist, and NMR and X-ray structural biologists are subjecting AFP, which greatly improves our understandings about AFP and accelerates its applicability to various cryo-industries. In the present review we will describe an updated biophysical aspects of AFP to highlight the interests of this research field.
