Characterization of the cellular receptor for fibronectin through a hydropathic complementarity approach

It has been shown that a significant correlation is seen when the hydropathy scores of amino acids encoded by the coding strand of double-helical DNA are plotted against those of the noncoding strand. Thus, peptides encoded by complementary DNA strands might form amphiphilic structures and bind one another. We have used this approach to study the interaction between fibronectin (FN) and its cell receptor. Taking into consideration the nucleotide sequence from published rat cDNA clones that corresponds to the cell binding site (Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser) in the FN molecule, the deduced amino acid sequence found for the putative receptor binding site was Trp-Thr-Val-Pro-Thr-Ala. This peptide was chemically synthesized and coupled to an AH-Sepharose column. FN bound appreciably to this column and was eluted much more efficiently by a solution of Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser-containing peptide than by a solution of related but inactive Arg-Gly-Glu-Ser-containing peptide. Binding of labeled FN to receptor-rich MG63 human osteosarcoma cells was inhibited by the hexapeptide. The hexapeptide Gly-Ala-Val-Ser-Thr-Ala predicted similarly from the nucleotide sequence of human FN was equally efficient in such inhibition. Antibodies produced against Trp-Thr-Val-Pro-Thr-Ala recognized with equal efficiency Gly-Ala-Val-Ser-Thr-Ala in an ELISA assay. Furthermore, they were able to recognize a single 140-kDa band in whole-cell extracts from Chinese hamster ovary cells, attesting to their specificity. Identification of the recognized protein was provided by showing that this antibody was also able to bind to affinity-purified FN receptor from human osteosarcoma MG63 cells.