1. A preparation which contains protein kinase activity capable of rephosphorylating dephosphorylated @,I and P-caseins has been prepared from lactating bovine mammary gland. This activity is localised in the Golgi fraction and in this respect is similar to that obtained previously from rat tissue. It differs from the rat preparation in being unable to rephosphorylate dephosphorylated x-casein.2. Progressive dephosphorylation of asl and P-caseins increases the rate of their rephosphorylation in the presence both of Ca2+ and of Mg2+. For 8-casein significant non-specific phosphorylation occurs in the presence of Mg2+ while in the presence of Ca2+ the level of phosphorylation is very low.3. Comparison of the products of the action of this kinase on partially dephosphorylated aSl and B-caseins indicates that seryl residues grouped with pre-existing phosphoseryl residues are phosphorylated preferentially in the presence of Mg2 +, while the phosphorylation of isolated single seryl residues is promoted by Ca2+.4. Digests of aSl-casein, prepared by treatment with cyanogen bromide, have been fractionated and the three major peptides, separated. After dephosphorylation two of these, which between them contain all of the phosphate of aS1-casein, are rephosphorylated at sites occupied in the native protein by phosphoseryl residues, i. e., at positions 46, 48, 75 and 115 of the a,l-casein molecule. Evidence is presented which shows that this specificity of action also operates when intact aSl-casein is used as phosphate acceptor. It is concluded that the enzyme responsible for specific phosphorylation acts through recognition of an amino acid sequence and does not require the provision of a specific structural conformation in the protein substrate.Determination of the sequences of amino acid residues occurring in the three major components of bovine casein, @,I, P and x-caseins, has defined accurately the locations of the phosphate residues in these proteins [1,2]. Altogether some 14 seryl residues are phosphorylated and a prominent feature of the primary structures of the a ,~ and p-caseins is a region of homology which includes a cluster of four phosphoseryl residues. In aSl-casein this extends over residues 63 -70 thus : Glu-Ser(P)-Ile-Ser(P)-Ser(P)-Ser-(P)-Glu-Glu, a sequence which is repeated in residues 14-21 of /?-casein with the substitution of leucine for isoleucine. In addition to these a,l-casein contains four phosphoseryl residues located at positions 46, 48, 75 and 11 5 and P-casein contains one located at position 35. %-Casein contains only one phosphoseryl residue. It has been shown by Turkington and Topper [3] that in mouse mammary glands at least a significant proportion of the phosphate of casein is incorporated after polypeptide synthesis rather than by incorporation of phosphorylated amino acids, and more recently Bingham and coworkers [4,5] have detected in the Golgi apparatus of lactating rat mammary gland a protein kinase for which dephosphorylated bovine caseins were found to act as better phosphat...