The orientation of mannosidase II, an integral Golgi membrane protein involved in asparagine-linked oligosaccharide processing, has been examined in rat liver Golgi membranes. Previous studies on mannosidase II purified from Golgi membranes revealed an intact subunit of 124,000 daltons, as well as a catalytically active 110,000-dalton degradation product generated during purification (Moremen, K. W., and Touster, O. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 6654-6662). In Triton X-100 extracts of Golgi membranes, the intact enzyme was cleaved by a variety of proteases to generate degradation products similar to those observed previously. At appropriate concentrations, chymotrypsin, pronase, and proteinase K generated 110,000-dalton species, while trypsin and Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease generated 115,000-dalton forms. Cleavage by chymotrypsin under mild conditions (10 micrograms/ml, 10 min, 20 degrees C) resulted in a complete conversion to a catalytically active 110,000-dalton form of the enzyme which was extremely resistant to further degradation. Attempts to demonstrate these protease digestions in nonpermeabilized Golgi membranes were unsuccessful, a result suggesting that the protease-sensitive regions are not accessible on the external surface of the membrane. In Golgi membranes permeabilized by treatment with 0.5% saponin, mannosidase II could readily be cleaved to the 110,000-dalton form by digestion with chymotrypsin under conditions similar to those which result in a proteolytic inactivation of galactosyltransferase, a lumenal Golgi membrane marker. Although mannosidase II catalytic activity was not diminished by this chymotrypsin digestion, as much as 90% of the enzyme activity was converted to a nonsedimentable form. To examine the effect of the proteolytic cleavage on the partition behavior of the enzyme, control and chymotrypsin-treated Triton X-114 extracts of Golgi membranes were examined by phase separation at 35 degrees C. The undigested enzyme partitioned into the detergent phase consistent with its location as an integral Golgi membrane protein, while the 110,000-dalton chymotrypsin-digested enzyme partitioned almost exclusively into the aqueous phase in a manner characteristic of a soluble protein. These results suggest that mannosidase II catalytic activity resides in a proteolytically resistant, hydrophilic 110,000-dalton domain. Attachment of this catalytic domain to the lumenal face of Golgi membranes is achieved by a proteolytically sensitive linkage to a 14,000-dalton hydrophobic membrane anchoring domain.