After Two Decades, a Fishy Genetic Mystery Has Been Solved
A scientist faced down the ultimate cold case: How did two groups of fish separately evolve genes for making antifreeze?
It has taken her two decades, but Chi-Hing Christina Cheng has finally solved her ultimate cold case—a fishy mystery that extends from one frigid end of the planet to the other.
Cheng, a Chinese-born biologist, moved to the United States as a teenager and began working in Antarctica in 1984. There, she and her partner, Arthur DeVries, studied the notothens—a group of fishes that swim in the continent’s subzero waters. These animals survive at temperatures that would kill other fish because they produce their own antifreeze—a protein that courses through their blood and prevents ice from forming.
The protein is incredibly simple.
