Phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxylase (orthophosphate:oxalacetate carboxy-lyase (phosphorylating), EC 4.1.1.31) was purified 19-fold from Thiobacillus thiooxidans. The level of enzyme activity was dependent on culture age. No enzyme activity could be obtained from frozen cells.The pH optimum of the enzyme was determined to be around 8.0. Apparent Michaelis constants were determined for the substrates:phosphoenolpyruvate (1.4, 1.5 mM), bicarbonate (0.4, 1.1 mM), and magnesium (1.1, 0.8 mM) at pH 7.0 and 8.0, respectively. Acetyl-CoA was found to be a powerful activator of this enzyme, with the degree of activation increasing with decreasing pH. The concentration of acetyl-CoA to obtain half-maximal activation, however, remained fairly constant and low, namely 1.2 and 1.0 μM at pH 7.0 and 8.0, respectively. L-Aspartate and L-malate were strong inhibitors of enzyme activity. In the presence of aspartate at pH 7.0 the double reciprocal activity plots for PEP became nonlinear, a characteristic of negative cooperativity. These plots became linear with the addition of acetyl-CoA with aspartate now acting as a noncompetitive inhibitor with respect to PEP. At pH 8.0, the same plots were linear with aspartate acting as a competitive inhibitor of PEP. All the other effectors of PEP carboxylase from Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli were found to be ineffective towards the enzyme from T. thiooxidans.