Secretion of milk lipid globules is achieved through encapsulation of triacylglycerol-rich lipid droplets in a specialized region of apical plasma membrane of mammary epithelial cells. A class of low molecular mass GTP-binding proteins were associated tightly with the lipid globule membrane, and these proteins appeared to change from peripheral to integral membrane proteins during intracellular growth and transit of lipid globule precursors. Inclusion of GTP or GTP gamma S in incubation medium stimulated secretion of lipids from primary cultures of permeabilized rat mammary epithelial cells. Six polypeptides with molecular masses between 28 and 21 kDa were detected by ability to bind GTP gamma S following separation of lipid-globule-associated proteins by SDS-PAGE and transblotting onto nitrocellulose. That all of these polypeptides were distinct immunologically from the archetype ras was evident from lack of immunoreactivity with p21 ras G-protein monoclonal antibody in Western blots. This monoclonal antibody bound to a 23 kDa polypeptide of lipid droplets that was not detected with the GTP gamma S binding assay. A 25 kDa component of milk lipid globules was a potent substrate for ADP-ribosylation by botulinum toxin C3, but cholera toxin was much less effective, suggesting that this component may belong to the rac class of G-proteins. The 21 kDa component was related immunologically to ADP ribosylation factor.