Turnover of protein-bound phosphorylserine in membrane preparations from ox brain catalysed by intrinsic kinase and phosphatase activity.

1. The turnover of protein-bound phosphorylserine in preparations of membrane fragments from ox brain cortex was studied. 2. Turnover was considered to arise from the action of intrinsic protein kinases and phosphatases on a membrane protein or proteins. 3. Properties of the kinase system were studied by measuring the rate of incorporation of (32)P from gamma-labelled ATP into protein-bound phosphorylserine isolated from partial acid hydrolysates of membrane proteins. 4. Properties of the phosphatase system were studied by observing the rate of loss of (32)P from membrane preparations pre-labelled with [(32)P]ATP. 5. Net phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of membrane protein was observed during incubation of membrane preparations with and without ATP. 6. The rate of turnover was about 4nmol of P/h per mg of protein at 20 degrees C; dephosphorylation was considered to be the rate-limiting step.