Positive selection procedures for mutants of Salmonella typhimurium lacking cyclic 3', 5'7-adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) phosphodiesterase have been devised. The gene (cpd) coding for this enzyme has been located on the chromosome and shown to be 25% co-transducible with metC using phage P22. The mutants have been used to investigate the role of the enzyme in the control of genes whose expression is known to be dependent on cAMP. Significant alterations in the regulation of some but not others of these genes have been observed in these mutants. Mutants lacking the cAMP phosphodiesterase are more sensitive than their parents to a variety of antibiotics that appear to enter the cell through cAMP-dependent transport systems. They grow faster than the wild type on succinate-ammonia-salts, and glucose-proline-salts media and are inhibited by added cAMP on glucose, citrate, or glycerol-ammonia salts media whereas the wild type is unaffected. Neither the growth of Salmonella typhimurium on glycerol or citrate media nor the level of acid hexose phosphatase in the strain is affected by the loss of cAMP phosphodiesterase. In addition, the mutant strains are extremely sensitive to high levels of cAMP. Loss of the cAMP phosphodiesterase in strains unable to synthesize cAMP (adenyl cyclase negative) reduces by 10-fold the requirement for exogenous cAMP for expression of catabolite-sensitive phenotypes. These results suggest that through its control of cAMP levels in the cell the phosphodiesterase may be involved in the regulation of certain classes of catabolite-sensitive operaons and also in protecting the cell against high levels of cAMP.