We report here that the enzymatic activity of phospholipase D2 (PLD2) is regulated by phosphorylationdephosphorylation. Phosphatase treatment of PLD2-overexpressing cells showed a biphasic nature of changes in activity that indicated the existence of "activator" and "inhibitory" sites. We identified three kinases capable of phosphorylating PLD2 in vitro-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), JAK3, and Src (with JAK3 reported for the first time in this study)-that phosphorylate an inhibitory, an activator, and an ambivalent (one that can yield either effect) site, respectively. Mass spectrometry analyses indicated the target of each of these kinases as Phospholipase D2 (PLD) catalyzes the hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine to generate the lipid second messenger phosphatidic acid (PA) and choline. There are two mammalian isoforms: PLD1 (20) and PLD2 (12, 33). They share a highly conserved "HKD" domain necessary for catalysis (39). PLD has been implicated in a variety of physiological cellular functions, such as intracellular protein trafficking, cytoskeletal dynamics, membrane remodeling, and cell proliferation in mammalian cells and meiotic division and sporulation in yeast (6,15,16,32,42). PLD regulation in cells falls into two major signaling categories. One is by the small GTPase proteins Arf and Rho (3,5,11,43), and the other is by growth factors/ mitogens such as epidermal growth factor (EGF), plateletderived growth factor, insulin, and serum that implicate tyrosine kinases (2,12,21,22,34). Several gaps in knowledge of the second arm remain in spite of its importance in cell signaling. The isoform PLD1 can be phosphorylated on tyrosine, but this does not lead to changes in activity (35, 36).The isoform PLD2, which is expressed as a constitutively active enzyme in many cell types (47), can be detected as a phosphotyrosine protein both in vivo (25) and in vitro (17,25,41). PLD2 overexpression induces the transformation of cells (27,34,37,48), and the activation of this enzyme enhances cellular processes favorable for the metastasis of EL4 lymphoma cells (30). PLD also activates STAT3 by interacting with the thyroid oncogenic kinase RET/PTC (29). PLD2 can form a complex with the EGF receptor (EGFR) (12, 46) or with Pyk2 and Src kinases (4). Hydrogen peroxide and EGF induce PLD phosphorylation and PKC-␣ activation (38), while activation of PLD by 8-Br-cAMP is accomplished through Src, Ras, and ERK (49).Although all of these studies agree with respect to the presence of tyrosine kinases in PLD signaling, different conclusions were drawn regarding lipase activity. For example, whereas coexpression of PLD2 and Fyn or Fgr kinases lead to an enhancement of PLD activation and degranulation of mast cells (10), Ho et al. (23) , and Y 470 are important for PLD2 function (10) but, nevertheless, the overexpression of the phosphorylation-deficient mutant, PLD2-Y11F, increases PLD2 activity in resting or EGFactivated cells (12).Closely related to the enhancing effect of phosphorylationdeficient mutants, a new line of rese...