Anillin is a conserved protein implicated in cytoskeletal dynamics during cellularization and cytokinesis. The ANLNgene in humans and the scraps gene in Drosophila encode Anillin.[5] In 1989, anillin was first isolated in embryos of Drosophila melanogaster. It was identified as an F-actin binding protein.[6] Six years later, the anillin gene was cloned from cDNA originating from a Drosophila ovary. Staining with anti-anillin (Antigen 8) antibody showed the anillin localizes to the nucleus during interphase and to the contractile ring during cytokinesis.[7] These observations agree with further research that found anillin in high concentrations near the cleavage furrow coinciding with RhoA, a key regulator of contractile ring formation.[8]
The name of the protein anillin originates from a Spanish word, anillo. Anillo means ring and shows that the name anillin references the observed enrichment of anillins at the contractile ring during cytokinesis. Anillins are also enriched at other actomyosin rings, most significantly, those at the leading edge of the Drosophila embryo during cellularization. These actomyosin rings invaginate to separate all nuclei for one another in the syncytial blastoderm.[5]
