Bacterial strains isolated from of Deschampsia antarctica phyllosphere showing recristallization inhibition activity Raw sequence reads

Psychrophilic bacteria have developed a wide battery of physiological tools to undergo freezing temperatures such as changes in membrane fluidity, protein synthesis and enzyme kinetics. Psychrophilic bacteria can also avoid ice formation through accumulation of sugars, amino acids or polyhydric alcohols with the consequent depression of freezing point in cellular structures (colligative properties), preventing protein and membrane denaturation. In this context, antifreeze proteins (AFP) (also known as ice binding proteins) can also help to tolerate ice formation under extreme cold conditions and one of the most used mechanism to screen for AFP activity is through ice recrystallization inhibition activity (IRI) analysis by observing ice crystal behavior and grow. Thus, psychrophilic bacteria represent an important source to search for molecules such as AFP and develop natural strategies to ameliorate frost injury in plants.