Abstract

We recently isolated, from culture fluids of Staphylococcus aureus, a chemotactic peptide that comprised equimolar quantities of methionine, leucine, phenylalanine, and isoleucine. It interacted with the formylmethionyl peptide receptor of human leukocytes and had considerably higher potency and efficacy than the widely studied tripeptide agonist fMet-Leu-Phe. On the assumption that the attractant was a formylmethionyl tetrapeptide, we synthesized the six possible sequences and tested the products for chemotactic potency and efficacy, as well as their capacity to inhibit binding of fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled fMet-Leu-Phe-Lys to human monocytes. The concentrations required for inhibition of fluorescein-labeled fMet-Leu-Phe-Lys binding by the six peptides covered three orders of magnitude. Chemotactic potency (concentration that caused 50% of the maximum chemotactic response) ranged from 3.1 X 10(-11) M to 6.4 X 10(-10) M; efficacy (percentage of monocytes migrating at optimal attractant concentration) ranged from 41% to 66%. When the six synthetic tetrapeptides were ranked for chemotactic efficacy, they paired according to the position of phenylalanine. The average percentage migration was 66% for the two peptides with phenylalanine in position 3, 51% for phenylalanine in position 4, and 41% for phenylalanine in position 2. Since the published value for the percentage of human monocytes with detectable formyl peptide receptors is 60%, it is apparent that the two tetrapeptides with phenylalanine in position 3 (fMet-Ile-Phe-Leu and fMet-Leu-Phe-Ile) are full chemotactic agonists, which are capable of inducing migration of all the receptor-bearing cells. This is in contrast to the tripeptide fMet-Leu-Phe, which induces migration of only 50% of monocytes with receptors (efficacy of 33%). Since the chemotactic efficacy of the six tetrapeptides covers a wide range, the series may be useful to investigate signals that lead to directed movement after occupancy of receptors by chemoattractants.