Confluent, nongrowing renal epithelial cells, LLC-PK1, have a low rate of Na+-dependent (A-system) amino acid transport. Following a brief period of amino acid and serum deprivation, but with glucose provided as an energy source, such cells respond to the tumor promoter TPA with a brief enhancement of A-system activity that returns to control levels within 10-20 min. The response is followed some 30 min later by a large and prolonged elevation of transport activity (delayed response). The responses may be related to an increased amino acid requirement in mitogenized cells. The initial transport response appears to be the consequence of a protein kinase C-dependent phosphorylation event, phosphorylating either a regulator or the transporter itself, while the delayed response is dependent on the synthesis of new protein. The delayed transport response may also be dependent upon an early phosphorylation event, although apparently less directly than the early transport response. Several candidate proteins that might be involved in the regulation of the response(s) may be seen when electrophoretically separated cell proteins are examined for 32P or [35S]methionine incorporation after TPA treatment.