1. A low-molecular-weight activator of 5-aminolaevulinate synthetase was detected in extracts of Rhodopseudomonas spheroides. The compound activates the enzyme extracted from oxygenated semi-anaerobically grown organisms by a factor of 6-8. 2. The activator was extensively purified, but owing to the exceedingly small amounts that could be extracted in the active form its structure was not determined. 3. The activator contains an acetylatable amino group; it is more stable at acid than at alkaline pH values; it is stable to treatment with I(2)-KI or potassium ferricyanide, but irreversibly inactivated by Na(2)S(2)O(4) or NaBH(4). 4. The chromatographic, electrophoretic, chemical and stability properties of the activator are similar to those of pteridines; purified activator preparations contain pteridines, as shown by their fluorescence spectrum. This does not, however, constitute an identification of the activator. 5. The activator enhances the activity of crude and partially purified enzyme and does not appear to require other endogenous factors or a supply of air to produce activation. Activation of the purified enzyme, however, requires the presence of either pyridoxal phosphate or sodium succinate. In the absence of both these factors the activator produces a time- and temperature-dependent decay of activity.