Edited by Henrik DohlmanThe vacuolar H + -ATPase (V-ATPase) is a highly conserved proton pump responsible for the acidification of intracellular organelles in virtually all eukaryotic cells. V-ATPases are regulated by the rapid and reversible disassembly of the peripheral V 1 domain from the integral membrane V o domain, accompanied by release of the V 1 C subunit from both domains. Efficient reassembly of V-ATPases requires the Regulator of the H + -ATPase of Vacuoles and Endosomes (RAVE) complex in yeast. Although a number of pairwise interactions between RAVE and V-ATPase subunits have been mapped, the low endogenous levels of the RAVE complex and lethality of constitutive RAV1 overexpression have hindered biochemical characterization of the intact RAVE complex. We describe a novel inducible overexpression system that allows purification of native RAVE and RAVE-V 1 complexes. Both purified RAVE and RAVE-V 1 contain substoichiometric levels of subunit C. RAVE-V 1 binds tightly to expressed subunit C in vitro, but binding of subunit C to RAVE alone is weak. Neither RAVE nor RAVE-V 1 interacts with the N-terminal domain of V o subunit Vph1 in vitro. RAVE-V 1 complexes, like isolated V 1 , have no MgATPase activity, suggesting that RAVE cannot reverse V 1 inhibition generated by rotation of subunit H and entrapment of MgADP that occur upon disassembly. However, purified RAVE can accelerate reassembly of V 1 carrying a mutant subunit H incapable of inhibition with V o complexes reconstituted into lipid nanodiscs, consistent with its catalytic activity in vivo. These results provide new insights into the possible order of events in V-ATPase reassembly and the roles of the RAVE complex in each event.