CAREER: Elucidating Biogenic Control of Heterogenous Ice Nucleation

职业：阐明异质冰核的生物控制

• 批准号: 2336558
• 负责人: Konrad Meister
• 金额: $ 74.01万
• 依托单位: Boise State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-06-01 至 2029-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2336558&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Elucidating; Biogenic; Control; Heterogenous

Water and ice are essential in shaping Earth's geology, atmosphere, and sustaining life. Biological ice nucleators control the transition of water from liquid to solid ice crystals in all these contexts. Biological ice nucleators can induce frost damage in plants, but can also promote vegetation growth by enabling rainfall. They impact surface water, the hydrological cycle, and climate. Understanding the how biological ice nucleators control ice formation is critical for climate models, weather prediction, and decision-making in landscape design and agriculture. Despite this importance, the molecular mechanisms behind biologically enabled freezing remain largely elusive. This project seeks to decipher the superiority of proteins as ice makers and mitigators, surpassing all other substances. This knowledge would enable breakthroughs in understanding key parts of the ecosystem we inhabit, with urgently needed input for cryopreservation, environmentally benign de-icing, and updated climate models. New freezing technologies are also particularly important as the U.S. increasingly pursues activities in the Arctic, where ice can be a logistical burden or an operational enabler. Current ice-related challenges disproportionally affect rural agricultural and subsistence-based communities. This project aims to enhance rural student engagement in STEM by fostering greater awareness and interest through service-learning and the use of modern media and to help the communities develop environmentally friendly capacities to better predict, navigate and mitigate ice-associated challenges in a changing world. Pure water does not freeze at 0 °C owing to the energy barrier associated with forming the initial crystallization nucleus. In nature, water usually freezes in a heterogeneous process, facilitated by the presence of particles that serve as ice nucleators. Bacterial ice-nucleating proteins (INP) are the best-known ice nucleators, enabling ice formation at temperatures close to 0 °C. The control biological INPs exert over the phase transition of water has direct relevance for disciplines as diverse as cryobiology, plant pathology, biomedical engineering, and climate science. Despite their importance, the structures and working mechanisms behind INP-mediated freezing remain unknown. Progress toward answering the question of what makes INPs so much better at nucleating ice than any other material requires a molecular picture of the structures and interactions that enable superior ice nucleation in their natural environment. The main research objectives of this project are: 1) Elucidate how superior bacterial ice nucleators nucleate ice, 2) Unravel the correlation between ice-nucleating abilities and assembly of ice-binding units into large functional domains 3) Develop a biomimetic approach to ice nucleation by incorporating ice-binding proteins as building blocks. This research will allow the derivation of structure-function relationships and optimal functionalities of biogenic ice nucleators, and will enable the development of tunable materials that can act as antifreeze or ice nucleating agents depending on the assembly state. Integrated educational initiatives will utilize innovative media outreach and service-learning programs targeted at rural communities to ignite a transformative awareness of STEM opportunities, and to enable opportunities to collectively discover effective and environmentally benign solutions for ice control.This project is jointly funded by the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

水和冰对于塑造地球的地质，气氛和维持生命至关重要。在所有这些情况下，生物冰核心控制水从液体到固体冰晶的过渡。生物冰核粉可以诱导植物中的霜损伤，但也可以通过降雨来促进植被生长。它们影响地表水，水文周期和气候。了解生物冰核如何控制冰的形成对于气候模型，天气预测以及景观设计和同意的决策至关重要。尽管如此重要，但在生物学上冻结的分子机制仍然在很大程度上仍然是弹性。该项目旨在决定蛋白质作为制冰机和缓解剂的优势，超过所有其他物质。这些知识将在理解我们影响的生态系统的关键部分方面取得突破，并急需进行冷冻保存，环境良性的启发和更新的攀岩模型的意见。随着美国越来越多地从事北极的活动，冰块可能是后勤燃烧或运营推动剂，新的冰冻技术也尤其重要。目前，与冰有关的挑战不成比例地影响基于农业和基于生存的社区。该项目旨在通过通过服务学习和使用现代媒体来增强意识和兴趣来增强农村学生参与，并帮助社区发展环境友好的能力，以更好地预测，导航和减轻不断变化的世界中与冰相息的挑战。由于与形成初始结晶核相关的能屏障，纯水不会在0°C下冻结。在自然界中，水通常在异质过程中冻结，这是由于存在用作冰核的颗粒而制备的。细菌冰 - 核蛋白（INP）是最著名的冰核粉，在接近0°C的温度下可以形成冰。控制生物INP对水的相位过渡执行，这与像冷冻生物学，植物病理学，生物医学工程和气候科学等潜水员一样的学科直接相关。尽管它们的重要性，但INP介导的冻结背后的结构和工作机制仍然未知。回答与任何其他材料相比，要回答成核冰更好的问题的进展需要对结构和相互作用的分子图片，从而使较高的冰核能核冰，2）揭示冰 - 核冰冰的相关性，并将冰结合单位组成的冰块组合到大型功能域中的冰块填充冰块蛋白质蛋白质蛋白质蛋白质蛋白质量很大。这项研究将允许衍生结构功能关系和生物冰核成核的最佳功能，并能够开发可调材料，这些材料可以根据组装状态充当防冻剂或冰核定剂。综合的教育举措将利用针对粗糙社区的创新媒体宣传和服务学习计划，以引发对STEM机会的变革性认识，并使机会共同发现有效和环境的冰冰控制解决方案。该项目由该项目共同资助了该项目由分子和细胞生物科学和统计的竞争性研究（EPERS）的计划（Epors of Scors of Scors of Scors）（Epers）的计划。使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响标准，认为通过评估被认为是宝贵的支持。