Trypsin-nicking and functional assays were performed using the purified proteins as described in Materials and Methods. The samples were subjected to 4–12% gradient native PAGE (Invitrogen) and stained with Coomassie blue. (a): Trypsin nicking of PA-Soc and Soc-PA and in vitro binding to LF. Lanes 1: PA; 2: Soc-PA; 3: PA-Soc; 4: nPA; 5: Soc-nPA; 6: nPA-Soc; 7: LF + nPA; 8: LF + Soc-nPA; 9: LF + nPA-Soc. (b): in vitro binding of LF-Soc, LFn-Soc, and LFn-Soc-PA4 to trypsin-nicked PA (PA63). Lanes 1–5, PA, LFn-Soc, LFn-Soc-PA4, LF, and LF-Soc, respectively; 6: nPA; 7: nPA + LFn-Soc; 8: nPA + LFn-Soc-PA4; 9: nPA + LF; 10: nPA + LF-Soc.