Importance of annexin V N-terminus for 2D crystal formation and quick purification protocol of recombinant annexin V

Annexin V forms trimeric structures which further assemble into two-dimensional crystal (2D crystal) lattices on negatively charged phospholipid bilayer in a Ca(2+)-dependent manner. It is also known that annexin V 2D crystals show two types of symmetric patterns with six-fold symmetry (p6) and three-fold symmetry (p3). The p6 lattice also contains additional trimers in the gaps between the p6 axes, which are also referred to as non-p6 trimers because they do not participate in the formation of the p6 lattice. We here show that the annexin V N-terminal has significant influence on 2D crystal formation using high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) observations. We also present a quick purification method to purify recombinant annexin V without any residual affinity tag after protein purification in ~3h.