The binding of 125I-labeled muscle tropomyosin to Acanthamoeba and muscle actin was studied by ultracentrifugation and by the effect of tropomyosin on the actin-activated muscle heavy meromyosin ATPase activity. Binding of muscle tropomyosin to Acanthamoeba actin was much weaker than its binding to muscle actin. For example, at 5 mM MgCl2, 2 mM ATP, and 5 micronM actin, tropomyosin bound strongly to muscle actin but not detectably to Acanthamoeba actin. When the concentration of actin was raised from 5 micronM to 24 micronM in the presence of 80 mM KCl, the binding of tropomyosin to Acanthamoeba actin approached its binding to muscle actin. As with muscle actin, the addition of muscle heavy meromyosin in the absence of ATP induced binding of tropomyosin in Acanthamoeba actin under conditions were binding would otherwise not have occurred. The most striking difference between the interactions of muscle tropomyosin with the two actins, however, was that under conditions where tropomyosin was found to both actins, its stimulated the Acanthamoeba actin-activated heavy meromyosin ATPase but inhibited the muscle actin-activated heavy meromyosin ATPase.