Direct association of fibronectin and actin molecules in vitro

Affinity chromatography with actin-Sepharose conjugates of purified human fibronectin, normal human plasma, or serum-free culture fluid from human fibroblasts showed that fibronectin molecules can directly bind to actin. A quantitative recovery of soluble human fibronectin was accomplished by chromatography on actin immobilized on Sepharose beads. Human fibronectin molecules bound to actin-Sepharose were eluted with 0.25--0.35 M potassium bromide, and these molecules competed in a species-specific radioimmunoassay for human fibronectin. The subunits of fibronectin isolated by actin-Sepharose chromatography comigrated in SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with those of electrophoretically homogeneous fibronectin purified by conventional procedures. The efficient direct binding of fibronectin to actin suggests that interactions between these proteins might also take place in vivo but further studies are needed to elucidate the biological significance of this affinity.