Site-directed mutagenesis was used to change the phosphopantetheine attachment site (Ser38) of spinach acyl carrier protein I (ACP-I) from a serine to a threonine or cysteine residue.1. Although the native ACP-I is fully phosphopantethenylated when expressed in Escherichia coli, the TH-ACP-I and CY-ACP-I mutants were found to be completely devoid of the phosphopantetheine group. Therefore, the E. coli holoACP synthase requires serine for in vivo phosphopantetheine addition to spinach ACP-I.2. Spinach holoACP synthase was completely inactive in vitro with either the TH-ACP-I or CY-ACP-I mutants. In addition, TH-ACP-I and CY-ACP-I were strong inhibitors of spinach holoACP synthase.3. The mutant ACPs were weak or ineffective as inhibitors of spinach fatty acid synthesis and spinach oleoyl-ACP hydrolase.4. Compared to holoACP-I, the mutant apoACP-I analogs had: (a) altered mobility in SDS and native gel electrophoresis, (b) altered binding to anti-(spinach ACP-I) antibodies and (c) altered isoelectric points. The combined physical, immunological and enzyme inhibition data indicate that attachment of the phosphopantheine prosthetic group alters ACP conformation.Plant acyl carrier protein (ACP) is a small (z 9 kDa), acidic chloroplast protein which serves as a cofactor in at least a dozen reactions of fatty acid synthesis, desaturation and glycerolipid assembly [l]. ACP is the best characterized protein in plant lipid biosynthesis, and cDNA and/or genomic clones are available from spinach [2, 31, barley [4], Brassica [5,6] and Arabidopsis [7]. Multiple isoforms of ACP have been found in plants, and in spinach leaf the most abundant form is designated ACP-I. ACPs contain a phosphopantetheine prosthetic group attached to a serine residue near the middle of the polypeptide chain. This prosthetic group is donated from CoA in a reaction catalyzed by holoACP synthase [S, 91. In plants, ACP is nuclear encoded and is synthesized as a precursor containing a transit peptide for plastid uptake [3 -71. The prosthetic group attachment appears to occur outside the chloroplast before uptake and processing to mature holoACP [8].In E. coli, the enzyme holoACP hydrolase acts to remove the prosthetic group from ACP. However, Jackowski and Rock have demonstrated that there are no detectable levels of apoACP in E. coli cells [lo]. Similarly, we have been unable to detect apoACP in spinach tissues using Western blots probed with antibodies which recognize both holoACP and apoACP (Battey & Ohlrogge, unpublished data). Thus, in both plants and bacteria the activity of holoACP synthase appears sufficient to maintain ACP in a fully pantethenylated form. The E. coli mutant, MP4, which has reduced holoACP