Ccc2, the yeast copper-transporting ATPase, pumps copper from the cytosol to the Golgi lumen. During its catalytic cycle, Ccc2 undergoes auto-phosphorylation on Asp 627 and uses the energy gained to transport copper across the cell membrane. We previously demonstrated that cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) controls the energy interconversion Cu EϳP 3 E-P ؉ Cu when Ser 258 is phosphorylated. We now demonstrate that Ser 258 is essential in vivo for copper homeostasis in extremely low copper and iron concentrations. The S258A mutation abrogates all PKA-mediated phosphorylations of Ccc2, whereas the S971A mutation leads to a 100% increase in its global regulatory phosphorylation. With S258A, the firstorder rate constant of catalytic phosphorylation by ATP Copper plays an essential role in all known organisms. Transition metal properties give it the capacity to accept and donate electrons, and therefore to act as a cofactor in a broad diversity of enzymes that catalyze a great variety of reactions (1). Different active copper transporters (Cu(I)-ATPases) present in prokaryotes and eukaryotes (1-4) play a pivotal role in the homeostatic control of intracellular metal concentration. Active copper transport in mammals is mediated by two different ATPases: ATP7A (the Menkes ATPase) and ATP7B (the Wilson ATPase). Whereas ATP7A is ubiquitous, ATP7B is predominantly expressed in hepatocytes and in distinct scattered cell types in the central nervous system, kidney, placenta, and mammary glands (5). In humans, impaired copper delivery to the secretory/biosynthetic pathway and the circulatory system leads to severe conditions such as Wilson and Menkes diseases.Just as mammalian cells have machinery for copper homeostasis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae contains homologous proteins for each corresponding function, physiologically coupling copper capture, intracellular trafficking, and delivery to a variety of acceptors. The yeast Cu(I)-ATPase, known as Ccc2, transports copper to protein acceptors in the lumen of the Golgi complex (6). Copper delivery to the trans Golgi network (TGN) 4 lumen is essential for iron metabolism in yeast, as the iron transporter Ftr1p must be activated by Fet3p in the TGN, which requires copper as a cofactor (7). Therefore, the role of Ccc2 in iron metabolism in yeast is similar to that in mammalian ATP7B with respect to ceruloplasmin, a protein synthesized in the hepatocyte TGN (8). For this reason, S. cerevisiae is a valuable model for studying copper homeostasis.Considerable progress has been made toward elucidating catalytic phosphorylation by Cu(I)-ATPases (4, 9, 10); these are members of the ATPase family harboring the highly conserved DKTGT motif (11) (Fig. 1A). However, few reports have addressed the role of their kinase-mediated regulatory phosphorylation in the subcellular traffick- 55-21-22808193; E-mail: avieyra@biof.ufrj.br. 4 The abbreviations used are: TGN, trans Golgi network; EϳP, high-energy phosphoenzyme; E-P, low-energy phosphoenzyme; PKAi 5-24 , PKA inhibitor peptide 5-24; pkaPS, PK...