Pig heart citrate synthase was subjected to limited proteolytic attack by subtilisin, chymotrypsin, and trypsin in the presence of palmitoyl-CoA. Initial proteolysis by all three proteolytic enzymes resulted in cleavage of the monomeric subunit (Mr 45 000 +/- 3000) into a large (Mr 35 000-38 500) and a small (Mr 9000 +/- 3000) into a large (Mr 35 000-38 500) and a small (Mr 9000-12 000) fragment. Further proteolysis of the large subunit produced a secondary fragment (Mr 31 000-36 000). The small (Mr 9000-12 000) fragment was stable in the presence of subtilisin but was substantially degraded by both chymotrypsin and trypsin. The actual molecular weight of fragments varied with the choice of the proteolytic enzyme. Limited proteolysis was absolutely dependent on the presence of palmitoyl-CoA and resulted in complete inhibition of the catalytic activity of the enzyme. Citrate, ammonium sulfate, and especially oxaloacetate provided complete protection against proteolysis whereas acetyl-CoA, CoASH, NADH, and ATP were ineffective. Reaction of rabbit anti-citrate synthase with citrate synthase and its proteolytic fragments indicated that the main antigenic region lay primarily in the small fragment. The products of subtilisin cleavage were isolated by gel filtration under denaturing conditions. The large (Mr 35 000-38 500) fragment contained the amino-terminal (approximately)336 amino acids and the small fragment contained the remaining carboxyl-terminal amino acids. The results are discussed in relation to the structure of citrate synthase.