The extracellular matrix of the connective tissue contains non-collagenous proteins (NCP) which are acidic in character. The NCP of mineralizing systems (bone, dentin) differ from those of the non-mineralizing systems (skin, tendon) in that the mineralized tissue NCP are frequently phosphorylated. The phosphorylated proteins have been implicated in various aspects of the mineralization process. Thus, it is of interest to consider the mechanism and regulation of phosphorylation of the major matrix NCP. The majority of the phosphorylation takes place at Ser or Thr residues embedded within acidic sequences, and therefore are targets for casein kinase I (CKI ) or casein kinase 11 (CK2)-like kinases. CKI and CK2 are distantly related members of the protein kinase family. They are ubiquitous, constitutively active, second-messenger-independent kinases. CKI is found in a variety of isoforms, all homologous to the cx-subunit of the protein kinase family. It acts as a monomer. The active form of CK2 is a tetrameric holoenzyme, with 2 cx catalytic subunits and 2 ( regulatory subunits. The CK2 ac has activity alone, but the holoenzyme is four-to five-fold that activity. CK2 can use either ATP or GTP as the phosphate donor, but CK 1 can use only ATP. The CK2 activity which phosphorylates the mineralized tissue NCP appears to be localized to membraneassociated cell fractions, and is present in the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi compartments in osteoblasts, where phosphorylation of the secreted proteins appears to take place as co-and post-translational processes. Data Bone and dentin are tissues in which mineral deposits of carbonate apatite form in an orderly fashion within a pre-formed collagen fibril matrix. Structural studies clearly show that the majority of the mineral phase is composed of carbonate-apatite crystals, whose crystal c-axes are aligned with the fibril axes of the collagen fibrils (FittonJackson, 1957;Glimcher and Krane, 1968;Glimcher, 1976;Weiner and Traub, 1986;Arsenault, 1988;Arsenault et al, 1991;Landis et al., 1992). Although much of the early work attempted to show that the collagen fibrils were responsible for the placement and induction of mineral deposition, this proposition was never verified. Instead, attention began to focus on the non-collagenous protein components of the matrix (Herring and Kent, 1963;Schlueter and Veis, 1964;Veis and Schlueter, 1964;Spector and Glimcher, 1972;Veis et al., 1972;Glimcher, 1976), especially since it was recognized that, as a class, the non-collagenous extracellular proteins (NCP) shared a common char360Crit Rev Oral Biol Med 8(4)