Leukocyte recruitment and effector functions like phagocytosis and respiratory burst are key elements of immunity to infection. Pathogen survival is dependent upon the ability to overwhelm, evade or inhibit the immune system. Pathogenic group A and group B streptococci are well known to produce virulence factors that block the binding of IgA to the leukocyte IgA receptor, Fc␣RI, thereby inhibiting IgA-mediated immunity. Recently we found Staphylococcus aureus also interferes with IgA-mediated effector functions as the putative virulence factor SSL7 also binds IgA and blocks binding to Fc␣RI. Herein we report that SSL7 and Fc␣RI bind many of the same key residues in the Fc region of human IgA. Residues Leu-257 and Leu-258 in domain C␣2 and residues 440 -443 PLAF in C␣3 of IgA lie at the C␣2/C␣3 interface and make major contributions to the binding of both the leukocyte receptor Fc␣RI and SSL7. It is remarkable this S. aureus IgA binding factor and unrelated factors from streptococci are functionally convergent, all targeting a number of the same residues in the IgA Fc, which comprise the binding site for the leukocyte IgA receptor, Fc␣RI.Staphylococcus aureus, a commensal organism of the human skin and nose (1), is also a significant human pathogen responsible for conditions such as Scarlet fever, toxin shock, septicemia, and endocarditis. The S. aureus genome contains three clusters of superantigen and superantigen-like genes, designated SaPIn1, -2, and -3 (2). SaPIn2 contains the Staphylococcus superantigen-like (ssl) genes, previously designated as staphylococcal enterotoxin-like (SET) genes (3). These genes are highly represented in clinical isolates of S. aureus and are inferred to contribute to pathogenicity of these strains (4). Crystallographic studies of SSL5 (SET3) (5) and SSL7 (SET1) (6, 7) proteins have indicated structural similarity to classical superantigens with the SSLs also comprising an OB-fold and -grasp domain. We have recently defined two binding activities of the SSL7 protein demonstrating that SSL7 binds simultaneously to human complement factor C5 and IgA (8). The binding of IgA by SSL7 inhibited IgA binding to the leukocyte IgA receptor Fc␣RI (CD89) thus providing a potential mechanism for evasion of IgA-mediated cellular immunity, via the blockade of IgA-mediated leukocyte effector functions such as phagocytosis and respiratory burst (9 -11). General similarities with staphylococcal protein A are clear which, although an unrelated protein, is also capable of multiple interactions targeting the host immune response, including binding TNFR1 (12), C1qR (13), and IgG via V H 3 Fabs (14) and the Fc at the C␥2/C␥3 interface region (15). This study investigated the site of human IgA binding to SSL7. SSL7 was found to bind to the C␣2/C␣3 interface of IgA Fc and require residues essential for the interaction of Fc␣RI with IgA. Thus the SSL7 and Fc␣RI binding sites are likely to be the same or at least closely overlapping. Furthermore the interaction of SSL7 was independent of the IgA Asn-263 li...