Nucleotide sequence of the gene for a fibronectin-binding protein from Staphylococcus aureus: use of this peptide sequence in the synthesis of biologically active peptides.

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Binding of cells of Staphylococcus aureus to fibronectin, which may represent a mechanism of host tissue adherence, involves a fibronectin-receptor protein present on the bacterial surface. Cloning of a gene coding for a staphylococcal fibronectin-binding protein and construction of a fusion protein with fibronectin-binding properties was previously reported from our laboratory. We have now sequenced the gene and deduced a primary sequence of the fibronectin-binding protein. The protein resembles other cell-wall-associated proteins on Gram-positive bacteria in that it (i) appears to be anchored in the cell membrane via its C-terminal end, (ii) contains a proline-rich repeating unit outside the membrane anchor, and (iii) contains a long (36-amino acid) signal sequence at the N terminus. The fibronectin-binding activity has been localized to a domain composed of a 38-amino acid unit repeated completely three times and partially a fourth time; the identity between the three 38-amino acid sequences varies from 42 to 87%. Three synthetic peptides mimicking the structure of each 38-amino acid unit were constructed. All three peptides interacted with fibronectin, as indicated by their ability to inhibit binding of fibronectin to staphylococcal cells, whereas an unrelated 37-amino acid peptide showed no inhibitory activity.