Mono ADP-ribosyltransferases catalyze the transfer of the ADP-ribose moiety of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) to proteins. It was reported by Wang et al (J Immunol 153:4048, 1994) that incubation of mouse cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) with NAD resulted in the ADP-ribosylation of membrane proteins and inhibition of cell proliferation and cytotoxicity. Treatment of CTL with phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) before incubation with NAD prevented the inhibitory effects of NAD on the cells, consistent with the removal of a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored ADP-ribosyltransferase on the lymphocyte surface. We have identified and cloned a GPI-linked ADP-ribosyltransferase from Yac-1 mouse T-cell lymphoma cells. The deduced amino acid sequence of the Yac-1 transferase was 70% and 41% identical to those of the rabbit skeletal muscle and chicken heterophil, respectively. It contained three noncontiguous sequences similar to those found in several of the bacterial toxin and vertebrate ADP-ribosyltransferases. Based on crystallography of the bacterial toxins, these regions are believed to form, in part, the catalytic site consistent with a common mechanism for the ADP-ribose transfer reaction. In rat mammary adenocarcinoma (NMU) cells transformed with the Yac-1 transferase cDNA, transferase activity was present on the cell surface and was released into the medium by treatment of cells with PI-PLC. Thus, we have cloned a novel gene that has properties identical to the transferase detected in CTL, and may be involved in the NAD-dependent regulation of proliferation and cytotoxicity.