The Ca2+-ATPase from sarcoplasmic reticulum was transferred in an active form to a low-water system composed of toluene, phospholipids, and Triton X-100 (TPT). The Ca2+-ATPase activity in the TPT system with 4.0% water (by vol.) was about 50% of the activity observed in all-aqueous mixtures. Phosphate formation was linear with time up to 20% of ATP hydrolysis and, as expected from an enzyme-catalysed reaction, activity was linear with protein concentration. No ATPase activity was detected in the presence of 3 mM EGTA, indicating that the enzyme retained its Ca2+ dependence in the TPT system. A hyperbolic response to ATP concentration was observed with a K , of 0.15 mM. There was no detectable ATPase activity at water concentrations below 1.5% (by vol.). With 2.0% water, activity became detectable and increased as the water content was progressively raised to 7.0% (by vol.). Higher amounts of water produced unstable emulsions. Enzyme phosphorylation by ATP and dephosphorylation took place in the TPT system. The velocities of both enzyme phosphorylation and dephosphorylation increased with increments in the water content. The enzyme could also be phosphorylated in the TPT system by inorganic phosphate. However, in comparison to ATP, phosphorylation by phosphate took place with significantly lower amounts of water. It is suggested that at low amounts of water, the enzyme is in a relatively rigid conformation and, as the water content is increased, the ATPase acquires more flexibility and, hence, the capacity to carry out catalysis at higher rates. Nevertheless, the release of conformational constraints of the catalytic site of the E, conformer takes place at water concentrations much lower than those needed for the expression of catalytic activity by the E, conformer.A considerable amount of work has accumulated on the behavior of enzymes in systems formed predominantly with organic solvents. The studies have been carried out with enzymes dispersed in the solvent (Klibanov, 1983(Klibanov, , 1989 or entrapped in the interior of reverse micelles (Martinek et al., 1986;Luisi and Magid, 1986;Walde et al., 1990). One of the salient features of enzymes in either of the two conditions is that, when they are in contact with low amounts of water, they exhibit a high thermostability (Garza-Ramos et al., 1989; Ayala et al., 1986; Zacks and Klibanov, 1984, 1988;Wheeler and Croteau, 1986) and low catalytic rates (GarzaRamos et al., 1989(GarzaRamos et al., , 1990(GarzaRamos et al., , 1992a. It has been proposed that these two phenomena result from restrictions in enzyme conformational mobility as imposed by the low-water environment (for review see Garza-Ramos et al., 199213 mational changes, it should be possible to stabilize particular enzyme conformations by varying the amount of water in contact with the enzyme. Studies along this line could also shed light on solvent-protein interactions that occur during catalysis, in particular if different steps of the catalytic cycle have distinct and defined water requeriments. The ...