IDENTIFICATION OF A KEY DOMAIN IN ANNEXIN AND 14-3-3 PROTEINS THAT STIMULATE CALCIUM-DEPENDENT EXOCYTOSIS IN PERMEABILIZED ADRENAL CHROMAFFIN CELLS

Calcium-dependent secretion in digitonin-permeabilized adrenal chromaffin cells is stimulated by exogenous annexin II and 14-3-3 proteins. These proteins share a conserved domain that has been suggested to be involved in specific protein-protein interactions. We examined whether this domain was involved in secretion by using a synthetic peptide (P16) of sequence KGDYQKALLYLCGGDD corresponding to the C-terminus of annexin II. P16, but not truncated peptides, prevented the stimulation of secretion by 14-3-3 proteins and produced a partial inhibition of control secretion. These data suggest that the shared annexin/14-3-3 domain is important in the mechanisms controlling Ca2+-dependent secretion and may play a key role in protein-protein interactions during exocytosis.