The domains of human fibronectin mediating the binding of α antigen, the most immunopotent antigen of mycobacteria that induces protective immunity against mycobacterial infection

We have recently shown that alpha antigen (alpha-Ag), the immunodominant antigen of mycobacteria, has a novel fibronectin (FN)-binding motif that is unique among mycobacteria [Naito, Ohara, Matsumoto and Yamada (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273, 2905-2909]. In this study, we examined the domains of human FN that interacted with alpha-Ag. Fragments of FN generated by either proteolysis or recombinant DNA techniques were compared for their ability to bind to alpha-Ag. Fragments containing either the C-terminal heparin-binding domain or the central cell-binding domain consistently bound to alpha-Ag. The fragment of the C-terminal heparin-binding domain, upon mutation that resulted in the loss of its heparin-binding activity, could not bind with alpha-Ag. These findings suggested that the mutated site, i.e. the main heparin-binding site of FN, was also the principal site for binding to alpha-Ag. The alpha-Ag-binding domains of FN could bind whole mycobacterial bacilli, suggesting that these two domains are important contributors to mycobacterial infection.