We compared the kinetics and thermodynamics of rhodamine phalloidin binding to actin purified from rabbit skeletal muscle, Acanthamoeba castellanii, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae in 50 mM KCl, 1 mM MgCl2, and pH 7.0 buffer at 22 degrees C. Filaments of S. cerevisiae actin bind rhodamine phalloidin more weakly than Acanthamoeba and rabbit skeletal muscle actin filaments due to a more rapid dissociation rate in spite of a significantly faster association rate constant. The higher dissociation rate constant and lower binding affinity of rhodamine phalloidin for S. cerevisiae actin filaments provide a quantitative explanation for the inefficient staining of yeast actin filaments, compared with that of rabbit skeletal muscle actin filaments [Kron et al. (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89, 4466-4470]. The temperature dependence of the rate constants was interpreted according to transition state theory. There is a small enthalpic difference (delta H++) between the ground states and the transition state. Consequently, the free energy of activation (delta G++) for association and dissociation of rhodamine phalloidin is dominated by entropic changes (delta S++). At equilibrium, rhodamine phalloidin binding generates a positive entropy change (delta S0). The rates of rhodamine phalloidin binding are independent of the pH, ionic strength, and filament length. Rhodamine covalently bound decreases the association rate and affinity of phalloidin for actin. The association rate constant is low for both phalloidin and rhodamine phalloidin because the filaments must undergo conformational changes (i.e. "breathe") to expose the phalloidin binding site [De La Cruz, E. M., & Pollard, T. D. (1994) Biochemistry 33, 14387-14392]. Raising the solvent microviscosity, but not the macroviscosity, dampens these conformational fluctuations, and phalloidin binding kinetics are inhibited. Yeast actin filaments bind rhodamine phalloidin more rapidly, suggesting that perhaps they are more flexible and can breathe more easily than rabbit or Acanthamoeba actin filaments.