The water channel aquaporin-2 (AQP2) is essential for urine concentration. Vasopressin regulates phosphorylation of AQP2 at four conserved serine residues at the COOH-terminal tail (S256, S261, S264, and S269). We used numerous stably transfected Madin-Darby canine kidney cell models, replacing serine residues with either alanine (A), which prevents phosphorylation, or aspartic acid (D), which mimics the charged state of phosphorylated AQP2, to address whether phosphorylation is involved in regulation of (i) apical plasma membrane abundance of AQP2, (ii) internalization of AQP2, (iii) AQP2 protein-protein interactions, and (iv) degradation of AQP2. Under control conditions, S256D-and 269D-AQP2 mutants had significantly greater apical plasma membrane abundance compared to wild type (WT)-AQP2. Activation of adenylate cyclase significantly increased the apical plasma membrane abundance of all S-A or S-D AQP2 mutants with the exception of 256D-AQP2, although 256A-, 261A-, and 269A-AQP2 mutants increased to a lesser extent than WT-AQP2. Biotin internalization assays and confocal microscopy demonstrated that the internalization of 256D-and 269D-AQP2 from the plasma membrane was slower than WT-AQP2. The slower internalization corresponded with reduced interaction of S256D-and 269D-AQP2 with several proteins involved in endocytosis, including Hsp70, Hsc70, dynamin, and clathrin heavy chain. The mutants with the slowest rate of internalization, 256D-and 269D-AQP2, had a greater protein half-life (t 1/2 = 5.1 h and t 1/2 = 4.4 h, respectively) compared to WT-AQP2 (t 1/2 = 2.9 h). Our results suggest that vasopressin-mediated membrane accumulation of AQP2 can be controlled via regulated exocytosis and endocytosis in a process that is dependent on COOH terminal phosphorylation and subsequent protein-protein interactions.Madin-Darby canine kidney cells | trafficking | vasopressin | water homeostasis | water channel A quaporin-2 (AQP2) is a water-channel protein expressed in the collecting duct of the kidney. Following increased vasopressin (AVP) levels, shuttling and fusion of AQP2 vesicles to the apical plasma membrane lead to water absorption and urine concentration. Knepper and Nielsen proposed that the plasma membrane abundance of AQP2 is a regulated balance between endocytosis and exocytosis (1). The downstream effects of the AVP-mediated signaling cascade on AQP2 exocytosis are complex and involve activation of adenylate cyclase, increased cAMP and intracellular Ca 2+ levels, and increased protein kinase A (PKA) activation. Additionally, both nitric oxide and atrial naturetic peptide, known to increase cGMP levels, can induce apical AQP2 accumulation (2). Currently, little is known about the process of AQP2 endocytosis, although it has been reported that both prostaglandin E2 and dopamine can induce AQP2 internalization (3) and that AQP2 ubiquitination is also involved (4).AVP regulates the phosphorylation of four residues in the carboxyl terminal tail of AQP2 at positions S256, S261, S264, and S269 (5-7). S256 phospho...