A mutant form of pyruvate kinase in which serine 384 has been mutated to proline has been engineered in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Residue 384 is located in a helix in a subunit interface of the tetrameric enzyme, and the mutation was anticipated to alter the conformation of the helix and hence destabilize the interface. Previous results indicate that the mutant favours the T quaternary conformation over the R conformation, and this is confirmed by the results presented here. Addition of phosphoenol-pyruvate (PEP), ADP and fructose-1, 6-bisphosphate (Fru-1.6-P2) singly to the wild-type and mutant enzymes results in a significant quenching of tryptophan fluorescence (12-44%), and for Fru-1,6-P2, a red shift of 15 nm in the emission maximum. Fluorescence titration experiments showed that PEP, ADP and Fru-1,6-P2 induce conformations which have similar ligand-binding properties in the wild-type and mutant enzymes. However, the Fru-1,6-P2 induced conformation is demonstrably different from those induced by either ADP or PEP. The enzymes differ in their susceptibility to trypsin digestion and N-ethylmaleimide inhibition. The thermal stability of the enzyme is unaltered by the mutation. Far-UV CD spectra show that both enzymes adopt a similar overall secondary structure in solution. Taken together, the results suggest that the Ser384-Pro mutation causes the enzyme to adopt a different tertiary and/or quaternary structure from the wild-type enzyme and affects the type and extent of the conformational changes induced in the enzyme upon ligand binding. A simplified minimal reaction mechanism is proposed in which the R and T states differ in both affinity and kcat. Thus, in terms of the models of cooperativity and allosteric interaction, pyruvate kinase is both a K and a V system.