The structural stability of the large cytoplasmic domain (H 4 -H 5 loop) of mouse a 1 subunit of Na + /K + ATPase (L354-I777), the number and the location of its binding sites for 2¢-3¢-O-(trinitrophenyl) adenosine 5¢-triphosphate (TNP-ATP) and p-nitrophenylphosphate (pNPP) were investigated. C-and N-terminal shortening revealed that neither part of the phosphorylation (P)-domain are necessary for TNP-ATP binding. There is no indication of a second ATP site on the P-domain of the isolated loop, even though others reported previously of its existence by TNP-N 3 ADP affinity labeling of the full enzyme. Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-anisotropy measurements reveal a considerable stability of the nucleotide (N)-domain suggesting that it may not undergo a substantial conformational change upon ATP binding. The FITC modified loop showed only slightly diminished phosphatase activity, most likely due to a pNPP site on the N-domain around N398 whose mutation to D reduced the phosphatase activity by 50%. The amino acids forming this pNPP site (M384, L414, W411, S400, S408) are conserved in the a 1)4 isoforms of Na + /K + ATPase, whereas N398 is only conserved in the vertebrates' a 1 subunit. The phosphatase activity of the isolated H 4 -H 5 loop was neither inhibited by ATP, nor affected by mutation of D369, which is phosphorylated in native Na + /K + ATPase.