Annexin - Introduction

Introduction

The protein family of annexins has continued to grow since their association with intracellular membranes was first reported in 1977. The recognition that these proteins were members of a broad family first came from protein sequence comparisons and their cross-reactivity with antibodies. One of these workers (Geisow) coined the name Annexin shortly after.

As of 2002 there has been 160 annexin proteins identified in 65 different species. The criteria that a protein has to meet to be classified as an annexin is: it has to be capable of binding negatively charged phospholipids in a calcium dependent manner and must contain a 70 amino acid repeat sequence called an annexin repeat.

The basic structure of an annexin is composed of two major domains. The first is located at the COOH terminal and is called the “core” region. The second is located at the NH2 terminal and is called the “head” region. The core region consists of an alpha helical disk. The convex side of this disk has type 2 calcium-binding sites. They are important for allowing interaction with the phospholipids at the plasma membrane. The N terminal region is located on the concave side of the core region and is important for providing a binding site for cytoplasmic proteins. In some annexins it can become phosphorylated and can cause affinity changes for calcium in the core region or alter cytoplasmic protein interaction.

Annexins are important in various cellular and physiological processes such as providing a membrane scaffold, which is relevant to changes in the cell's shape. Also, annexins have been shown to be involved in trafficking and organization of vesicles, exocytosis, endocytosis and also calcium ion channel formation. Annexins have also been found outside the cell in the extracellular space and have been linked to fibrinolysis, coagulation, inflammation and apoptosis.

The first study to identify annexins was published by Creutz et al. (1978). These authors used bovine adrenal glands and identified a calcium dependent protein that was responsible for aggregation of granules amongst each other and the plasma membrane. This protein was given the name synexin, which comes from the Greek word “synexis” meaning “meeting”.