title: Ligand-binding activity and expression profile of annexins in Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: Mammalian annexins are implicated in several physiological mechanisms based on their calcium-dependent phospholipid/membrane binding and carbohydrate-binding activities. In this study, we investigated gene expression profiles of all four Caenorhabditis elegans annexins, nex-1, -2, -3 and -4, throughout the development, and compared phospholipid- and carbohydrate-binding properties of their protein products, NEX-1, -2, -3 and -4. We found that nex-1 and -3 are transcribed continuously during the developmental stages, while expression of nex-2 and -4 appeared to be temporal, peaking at the L1 stage followed by a gradual decrease toward the adult stage. NEX-1 and -3 were detected as single protein band in total worm extracts by immunoblotting, but NEX-2 was heterogenic in size. NEX-1, -2, and -3 showed the binding activities to phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylethanolamine, but not to phosphatidylcholine. In contrast to their uniform phospholipids-binding properties, their glycosaminoglycan-binding activities were distinctive. NEX-2 bound to heparan sulfate and chondroitin, NEX-3 bound only to heparan sulfate, and NEX-1 showed no lectin activities under tested conditions. NEX-4 had neither phospholipids- nor carbohydrate-binding properties. Differentiated expression profiles and ligand-binding properties of NEX-1, -2, -3 and -4, shown in our study, may represent distinctive roles for each C. elegans annexins.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences, Ochanomizu University, 2-1-1 Otsuka, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8610, Japan.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nishioka
authors.forename: Jun-ichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aikawa
authors.forename: Michiru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ida
authors.forename: Isamu
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Miyoko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Street
authors.forename: Masafumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsujimoto
authors.forename: Kyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kojima-Aikawa
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017302:Annexins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism*; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism*; D002807:Chondroitin / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006497:Heparan Sulfate / Q000378:metabolism; D015151:Immunoblotting; D008081:Liposomes / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D017302:Annexins; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002807:Chondroitin; D006497:Heparan Sulfate; D008081:Liposomes; D010743:Phospholipids; C098890:Nex-1 protein, C elegans; C519288:Nex-2 protein, C elegans; C519289:Nex-3 protein, C elegans; C519290:Nex-4 protein, C elegans