.-The function of the NaPiIIa renal sodium-phosphate transporter is regulated through a complex network of interacting proteins. Several PDZ domain-containing proteins interact with its COOH terminus while the small membrane protein MAP17 interacts with its NH 2 end. To elucidate the function of MAP17, we identified its interacting proteins using both bacterial and mammalian two-hybrid systems. Several PDZ domain-containing proteins, including the four NHERF proteins, as well as NaPiIIa and NHE3, were found to bind to MAP17. The interactions of MAP17 with the NHERF proteins and with NaPiIIa were further analyzed in opossum kidney (OK) cells. Expression of MAP17 alone had no effect on the NaPiIIa apical membrane distribution, but coexpression of MAP17 and NHERF3 or NHERF4 induced internalization of NaPiIIa, MAP17, and the PDZ protein to the trans-Golgi network (TGN). This effect was not observed when MAP17 was cotransfected with NHERF1/2 proteins. Inhibition of protein kinase C (PKC) prevented expression of the three proteins in the TGN. Activation of PKC in OK cells transfected only with MAP17 induced complete degradation of MAP17 and NaPiIIa. When lysosomal degradation was prevented, both proteins accumulated in the TGN. When the dopamine D1-like receptor was activated with fenoldopam, both NaPiIIa and MAP17 also accumulated in the TGN. Finally, cotransfection of MAP17 and NHERF3 prevented the adaptive upregulation of phosphate transport activity in OK cells in response to low extracellular phosphate. Therefore, the interaction between MAP17, NHERF3/4, and NaPiIIa in the TGN could be an important intermediate or alternate path in the internalization of NaPiIIa. phosphate transport; PDZ; PDZK1; protein interaction; opossum kidney cells RENAL REABSORPTION OF INORGANIC phosphate (P i ) and its regulation involve molecular mechanisms more complicated than initially thought. After expression cloning of NaPiIIa (24), the transporter responsible for most renal P i reabsorption, a complex network of interacting proteins that modulate the activity of this transporter has been described (for reviews, see Refs. 4,5,15,35).Most of the proteins that interact with this transporter contain one or more PDZ domains (acronym of the postsynaptic density protein PSD-95, the Drosophila junctional protein Disc-large, and the tight junction protein ZO1). These domains consist of 80 -90 amino acids that very often (but not always) scaffold specific proteins into supramolecular complexes (17). Several PDZ domain-containing proteins interact with the COOH end of NaPiIIa (12) DD96/SPAP is a small membrane protein that interacts with the NH 2 terminus of the phosphate transporter (28). MAP17 was first identified by differential display because its RNA was overexpressed in several carcinomas (18). In addition, it was also isolated during the expression cloning of a renal Na/D-mannose cotransport in Xenopus laevis oocytes, and it was considered to be an activator of a mannose transporter endogenous to the oocyte (6). Yeast two-hybrid experi...