diff --git a/packages/libs/components/src/plots/PlotlyPlot.tsx b/packages/libs/components/src/plots/PlotlyPlot.tsx
index a59d7b6a06..77f45427b2 100755
--- a/packages/libs/components/src/plots/PlotlyPlot.tsx
+++ b/packages/libs/components/src/plots/PlotlyPlot.tsx
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import {
   PlotSpacingDefault,
   ColorPaletteAddon,
   ColorPaletteDefault,
+  VEuPathDBAnnotation,
 } from '../types/plots/addOns';
 // add d3.select
 import { select } from 'd3';
@@ -68,6 +69,8 @@ export interface PlotProps<T> extends ColorPaletteAddon {
   checkedLegendItems?: string[];
   /** A function to call each time after plotly renders the plot */
   onPlotlyRender?: PlotParams['onUpdate'];
+  /** array of annotations to show on the plot. Can be used with any plotly plot type */
+  plotAnnotations?: VEuPathDBAnnotation[];
 }
 
 const Plot = lazy(() => import('react-plotly.js'));
@@ -111,6 +114,7 @@ function PlotlyPlot<T>(
     checkedLegendItems,
     colorPalette = ColorPaletteDefault,
     onPlotlyRender,
+    plotAnnotations,
     ...plotlyProps
   } = props;
 
@@ -141,6 +145,27 @@ function PlotlyPlot<T>(
   const xAxisTitle = plotlyProps?.layout?.xaxis?.title;
   const yAxisTitle = plotlyProps?.layout?.yaxis?.title;
 
+  // Convert generalized annotation object to plotly-specific annotation
+  const plotlyAnnotations: PlotParams['layout']['annotations'] = useMemo(() => {
+    return plotAnnotations?.map((annotation) => {
+      return {
+        x: annotation.xSubject,
+        y: annotation.ySubject,
+        text: annotation.text,
+        xref: annotation.xref,
+        yref: annotation.yref,
+        xanchor: annotation.xAnchor,
+        yanchor: annotation.yAnchor,
+        ax: annotation.dx,
+        ay: annotation.dy,
+        showarrow:
+          typeof annotation.subjectConnector !== 'undefined' &&
+          annotation.subjectConnector === 'arrow',
+        font: annotation.fontStyles,
+      };
+    });
+  }, [plotAnnotations]);
+
   const finalLayout = useMemo(
     (): PlotParams['layout'] => ({
       ...plotlyProps.layout,
@@ -180,6 +205,7 @@ function PlotlyPlot<T>(
       },
       autosize: true, // responds properly to enclosing div resizing (not to be confused with config.responsive)
       colorway: colorPalette,
+      annotations: plotlyAnnotations,
     }),
     [
       plotlyProps.layout,
diff --git a/packages/libs/components/src/stories/plots/Histogram.stories.tsx b/packages/libs/components/src/stories/plots/Histogram.stories.tsx
index f29daa0190..43d3554433 100644
--- a/packages/libs/components/src/stories/plots/Histogram.stories.tsx
+++ b/packages/libs/components/src/stories/plots/Histogram.stories.tsx
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import {
   HistogramData,
   AxisTruncationConfig,
   FacetedData,
+  VEuPathDBAnnotation,
 } from '../../types/plots';
 import FacetedHistogram from '../../plots/facetedPlots/FacetedHistogram';
 
@@ -560,3 +561,22 @@ Faceted.args = {
     },
   },
 };
+
+const plotAnnotations: VEuPathDBAnnotation[] = [
+  {
+    xref: 'paper',
+    yref: 'paper',
+    xSubject: 0.1,
+    xAnchor: 'left',
+    ySubject: 0.9,
+    yAnchor: 'top',
+    text: 'Annotation <b>inside</b> the plot',
+  },
+];
+
+export const WithAnnotations = TemplateStaticWithRangeControls.bind({});
+WithAnnotations.args = {
+  data: staticData,
+  interactive: true,
+  plotAnnotations,
+};
diff --git a/packages/libs/components/src/stories/plots/ScatterPlot.stories.tsx b/packages/libs/components/src/stories/plots/ScatterPlot.stories.tsx
index f543ed4739..c8773af8b1 100755
--- a/packages/libs/components/src/stories/plots/ScatterPlot.stories.tsx
+++ b/packages/libs/components/src/stories/plots/ScatterPlot.stories.tsx
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 import React, { useState } from 'react';
 import ScatterPlot, { ScatterPlotProps } from '../../plots/ScatterPlot';
 import { Story, Meta } from '@storybook/react/types-6-0';
+import { PlotParams } from 'react-plotly.js';
 // test to use RadioButtonGroup directly instead of ScatterPlotControls
 import RadioButtonGroup from '../../components/widgets/RadioButtonGroup';
 import { FacetedData, ScatterPlotData } from '../../types/plots';
 import FacetedScatterPlot from '../../plots/facetedPlots/FacetedScatterPlot';
+import { VEuPathDBAnnotation } from '../../types/plots';
 import SliderWidget, {
   SliderWidgetProps,
 } from '../../components/widgets/Slider';
@@ -15,6 +17,7 @@ import {
   dateStringDataSet,
   processInputData,
 } from './ScatterPlot.storyData';
+import { Annotations } from 'plotly.js';
 
 export default {
   title: 'Plots/ScatterPlot',
@@ -383,3 +386,50 @@ export const opacitySlider = () => {
     </>
   );
 };
+
+// Plot annotations
+const plotAnnotations: Array<VEuPathDBAnnotation> = [
+  {
+    xSubject: 0.1,
+    ySubject: 0.9,
+    xref: 'x',
+    yref: 'y',
+    xAnchor: 'center',
+    yAnchor: 'top',
+    text: 'Annotation <i>inside</i> the plot, xy ref',
+  },
+  {
+    xSubject: 1,
+    ySubject: 0,
+    xref: 'paper',
+    yref: 'paper',
+    xAnchor: 'left',
+    yAnchor: 'top',
+    dx: 5,
+    dy: 20,
+    text: 'Annotation <i>outside</i> the plot, paper ref',
+  },
+  {
+    xSubject: 33,
+    ySubject: 3,
+    xref: 'x',
+    yref: 'y',
+    text: 'Annotating a point, fancy style',
+    subjectConnector: 'arrow',
+    dx: 0,
+    dy: -40,
+    fontStyles: {
+      family: 'Courier New, monospace',
+      size: 16,
+      color: 'blue',
+    },
+  },
+];
+
+export const PlotAnnotations: Story<ScatterPlotProps> = Template.bind({});
+PlotAnnotations.args = {
+  data: dataSetProcess,
+  interactive: true,
+  displayLegend: true,
+  plotAnnotations,
+};
diff --git a/packages/libs/components/src/types/plots/addOns.ts b/packages/libs/components/src/types/plots/addOns.ts
index 86d5650fe9..4914f88eef 100644
--- a/packages/libs/components/src/types/plots/addOns.ts
+++ b/packages/libs/components/src/types/plots/addOns.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /**
  * Additional reusable modules to extend PlotProps and PlotData props
  */
-import { CSSProperties } from 'react';
+import { CSSProperties, ReactNode } from 'react';
 import { BarLayoutOptions, OrientationOptions } from '.';
 import { scaleLinear } from 'd3-scale';
 import { interpolateLab, range } from 'd3';
@@ -358,3 +358,45 @@ export type AxisTruncationConfig = {
     max?: boolean;
   };
 };
+
+// Generalized annotation type for VEuPathDB plots
+// Attemps to provide a uniform api for annotations, regardless of plotting library.
+// For reference, plotly js annotation api: https://plotly.com/javascript/reference/layout/annotations/
+// visx annotation docs: https://airbnb.io/visx/docs/annotation
+// Note, the 'subject' is the point on the plot for which we want to provide an annotation. This may be
+// a data point, a part of the axis, etc. The 'subject' verbiage comes from visx.
+export interface VEuPathDBAnnotation {
+  /** x position of the thing being annotated */
+  xSubject: number;
+  /** y position of the thing being annotated */
+  ySubject: number;
+  /** Text of the annotation */
+  text: string;
+  /** Horizontal reference.
+   * Maps positions to the chart area (paper) or axis (x).
+   * See plotly "paper reference" for more. */
+  xref: 'paper' | 'x';
+  /** Vertical reference.
+   * Maps positions to the chart area (paper) or axis (y).
+   * See plotly "paper reference" for more. */
+  yref: 'paper' | 'y';
+  /** Horizontal alignment of the text */
+  xAnchor?: 'left' | 'center' | 'right';
+  /** Vertical alignment of the text */
+  yAnchor?: 'top' | 'middle' | 'bottom';
+  /** Horizontal text offset from the subject */
+  dx?: number;
+  /** Vertical text offset from the subject */
+  dy?: number;
+  /** Shape connecting the label to the subject */
+  subjectConnector?: 'line' | 'arrow';
+  /** Visx ONLY. Additional content to render wthin the visx Annotation component */
+  children?: ReactNode;
+  /** Font styles */
+  fontStyles?: {
+    size?: number;
+    color?: string;
+    family?: string;
+    weight?: number;
+  };
+}