Degradation of mating factor by alpha-mating type cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The change of the mating factor activity during the culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae X-2180 1B, an alpha-mating type haploid strain, were followed. The activity increased rapidly during the exponential phase of growth, reached a maximum during the early stationary phase and then decreased. Oligopeptides comprising partial sequences of the mating factor were isolated from the culture fluids at various phases of cell growth. We concluded that the mating factor, a tridecapeptide, was degraded during culture into two peptides, Trp-His-Trp-Leu-Gln-Leu and Lys-Pro-Gly-Gln-Pro-Met-Tyr, by cleavage of the peptide bond between Leu-6 and Lys-7 of the mating factor. A dodecapeptide lacking the N-terminal Trp residue was not detected at any stage of cell growth examined.