Calcium pump-catalyzed18 O exchange between inorganic phosphate and water was studied to test the hypothesis that all P-type pumps bind Mg 2؉ before P i and validate utilization of the rate equation for ordered binding to interpret differences between site-directed mutants and wild-type enzyme. The results were remarkably similar to those obtained earlier with sodium pump (Kasho, V. N., Stengelin, M., Smirnova, I. N., and Faller, L. D. (1997) Biochemistry 36, 8045-8052). The equation for ordered binding of Mg 2؉ before P i fit the data best with only a slight chance (0.6%) of P i binding to apoenzyme. Therefore, P i is the substrate, and Mg 2؉ is an obligatory cofactor. The intrinsic Mg 2؉ dissociation constant from metalloenzyme (K M ؍ 3.5 ؎ 0.3 mM) was experimentally indistinguishable from the sodium pump value. However, the half-maximal concentration for P i binding to metalloenzyme (K P ؍ 6.3 ؎ 0.6 mM) was significantly higher (ϳ6-fold), and the probability of calcium pump forming phosphoenzyme from bound P i (P c ؍ 0.04 ؎ 0.03) was significantly lower (ϳ6-fold) than for the sodium pump. From estimates of the rate constants for phosphorylation and dephosphorylation, the calcium pump appears to catalyze phosphoryl group transfer less efficiently than the sodium pump. Ordered binding of Mg 2؉ before P i implies that both calcium pump and sodium pump form a ternary enzyme⅐metal⅐phos-phate complex, consistent with molecular structures of other haloacid dehalogenase superfamily members that were crystallized with Mg 2؉ and phosphate, or a phosphate analogue, bound.The calcium and sodium pumps are classified as P-type, 1 because the energy required for generating ion gradients across cell membranes is derived from ATP by catalyzing hydrolysis in two, Mg 2ϩ -dependent steps (1). The ␥-phosphoryl group is initially transferred to an aspartyl side chain of the protein in one conformation (E 1 ) forming a covalent phosphoenzyme intermediate. Hydrolysis is completed after a conformational change by transferring the phosphoryl group to water. The second step can be reversed by reacting the second conformation (E 2 ), with P i and can be followed either by radioactive 32 P incorporation into the enzyme, or by stable oxygen isotope ( 18 O) exchange between P i and H 2 O. Phosphorylation by P i is a partial reaction that can be uncoupled from other reactions in the pump cycle experimentally, so that the mechanism is simple enough for derivation of the rate equation. Therefore, measurements combining either 32 P incorporation or 18 O exchange with site-directed mutagenesis are potentially a powerful way of identifying amino acids essential for catalyzing phosphoryl group transfer and of learning their function from estimates of intrinsic constants for interaction of reactants with the enzyme.The problem considered in this report is the mechanism of Mg 2ϩ -dependent phosphorylation by P i . The solution is important because the interpretation of observed differences between mutants and wild-type enzyme depends upon the...