Two-component extracellular copper sensing from the periplasm of Gram-negative bacteria has been well studied, but copper detection at the cell surface of the Gram-positive
L. monocytogenes
is less understood. Collectively, our results show that EET is most active under anaerobic conditions and reduces Cu
2+
and Ag
1+
to, respectively, generate or remove the monovalent ligands that directly bind to CopS and lead to the induction of lipoprotein remodeling genes.