Isolation and structure of staph-cAM373 produced by Staphylococcus aureus that induces conjugal transfer of Enterococcus faecalis plasmid pAM373.

Enterococus faecalis plasmid pAM373 encodes a mating response to the sex pheromone, cAM373, which is secreted from pAM373-free E. faecalis. cAM373-like activity was detected in a culture filtrate of Staphylococcus aureus. The major active substance, termed staph-cAM373, was isolated, and its structure was identified as a H-Ala-IIe-Phe-IIe-Leu-Ala-Ala-OH heptapeptide.