Xylomannan is an antifreeze molecule, found in the freeze-tolerant Alaskan beetle '' Upis ceramboides''. Unlike

antifreeze protein Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) or ice structuring proteins refer to a class of polypeptides produced by certain animals, plants, fungi and bacteria that permit their survival in temperatures below the freezing point of water. AFPs bind to small ...

s, xylomannan is not a protein. Instead, it is a combination of a sugar (

saccharide A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' m ...

) and a

fatty acid In chemistry, in particular in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated and unsaturated compounds#Organic chemistry, saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an ...

that is found in

cell membrane The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of a cell from the outside environment (the extr ...

s. As such is expected to work in a different manner than AFPs. It is believed to work by incorporating itself directly into the cell membrane and preventing the freezing of water molecules within the cell. Xylomannan is also found in the red seaweed '' Nothogenia fastigiata'' ( Scinaiaceae family). Fraction F6 of a sulphated xylomannan from ''Nothogenia fastigiata'' was found to inhibit replication of a variety of viruses, including

Herpes simplex virus Herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) are two members of the Herpesviridae#Human herpesvirus types, human ''Herpesviridae'' family, a set of viruses that produce Viral disease, viral infections in the majority of humans. Both HSV-1 a ...

types 1 and 2 (HSV-1, HSV-2),

Human cytomegalovirus Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), also called human herpesvirus 5 (HHV-5), is a species of virus in the genus ''Cytomegalovirus'', which in turn is a member of the viral family known as ''Herpesviridae'' or herpesviruses. It is also commonly call ...

(HCMV, HHV-5),

Respiratory syncytial virus Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), also called human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) and human orthopneumovirus, is a virus that causes infections of the respiratory tract. It is a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA virus. Its name is derive ...

(RSV),

Influenzavirus A ''Influenza A virus'' (''Alphainfluenzavirus influenzae'') or IAV is the only species of the genus ''Alphainfluenzavirus'' of the virus family '' Orthomyxoviridae''. It is a pathogen with strains that infect birds and some mammals, as well as c ...

Influenzavirus B ''Influenza B virus'' is the only species in the genus ''Betainfluenzavirus'' in the virus family ''Orthomyxoviridae''. Influenza B virus is a negative-sense single-strand RNA virus known only to infect certain mammal species, including huma ...

, Junin and Tacaribe virus,

Simian immunodeficiency virus Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) is a species of retrovirus that cause persistent infections in at least 45 species of non-human primates. Based on analysis of strains found in four species of monkeys from Bioko Island, which was isolated fr ...

, and (weakly)

Human immunodeficiency virus The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of th ...

types 1 and 2.

References

{{Reflist Cryobiology