Clumping of Staphylococcus aureus by human fibronectin.

Clumping of different staphylococci by fibronectin and other purified plasma proteins has been investigated. Purified fibronectin was capable of clumping Staphylococcus aureus strains in concentrations identical with concentrations of fibronectin in human plasma. S. epidermidis and S. saprophyticus were not clumped by fibronectin. The binding of fibronectin to S. aureus was not mediated by protein-A, as a strain lacking protein-A clumped in the presence of fibronectin, and the presence of IgG could not inhibit the clumping of S. aureus strains. The fibronectin-binding component on the staphylococcal cell wall seems to be unrelated to the fibrinogen-binding clumping factor.