Lysosomal phospholipase A 2 (LPLA 2 ) is an acidic phospholipase that is highly expressed in alveolar macrophages and that may play a role in the catabolism of pulmonary surfactant. The primary structure found in LCAT is conserved in LPLA 2 , including three amino acid residues potentially required for catalytic activity and four cysteine residues. LPLA 2 activity was measured in COS-7 cells transfected with c-myc -conjugated mouse LPLA 2 (mLPLA 2 ) or mutated LPLA 2 . Single alanine substitutions in the catalytic triad resulted in the elimination of LPLA 2 activity. Four cysteine residues (C65, C89, C330, and C371), conserved between LPLA 2 and LCAT, were replaced with alanine. Quadruple mutations at C65, C89, C330, and C371, double mutations at C65 and C89, and a single mutation at C65 or C89 resulted in the elimination of activity. Double mutations at C330 and C371 and a single mutation at C330 or C371 resulted in a partial reduction of activity. Thus, the presence of a disulfide bond between C330 and C371 is not required for LPLA 2 activity. We propose that one disulfide bond between C65 and C89 and free cysteine residues at C330 and C371 and the triad, serine-198, aspartic acid-360, and histidine-392, are required for the full expression of mLPLA 2 activity. Recently, a novel lysosomal phospholipase A 2 (LPLA 2 ) was purified from bovine brain (1), and the bovine, mouse, and human genes encoding LPLA 2 were cloned (2). LPLA 2 is highly expressed in the alveolar macrophages of rats and mice (3). Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor-deficient mice, a model of pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (4), exhibited significantly lower LPLA 2 activity in alveolar macrophages compared with wild-type mice, consistent with a role for LPLA 2 in the phospholipid catabolism of pulmonary surfactant (3).LPLA 2 has both transacylase and phospholipase A 2 activities under acidic conditions (1, 5). Divalent cations are not required for LPLA 2 activity, although calcium slightly enhances enzyme activity (1). The purified LPLA 2 is a water-soluble glycoprotein consisting of a single peptide chain with a molecular mass of 45 kDa (1). The primary structure of LPLA 2 , deduced from DNA sequences encoding LPLA 2 , is highly conserved between mammals, including mouse, rat, human, and bovine. The amino acid sequence of LPLA 2 is 49% identical to that of LCAT ( Fig. 1 ). Based on their primary structures, both enzymes are members of the ␣ -hydrolase superfamily and have the amino acid residues forming a catalytic triad (2, 6). In general, the triad consists of three amino acid residues, serine, aspartic acid/glutamic acid, and histidine, a structure that is essential for the hydrolysis reaction. We previously demonstrated that the serine-198 (S198) residue within a putative lipase motif sequence and within the catalytic triad is required for phospholipase A 2 activity (2).In addition, there are four cysteine residues that are conserved between LPLA 2 and LCAT (2, 6). Two of the cysteines are proximate to the N terminu...