Pertussis toxin (PT)-catalyzed ADP-ribosylation of transducin (Gt) is stimulated by ATP. In the absence of ATP, PT exhibited an approximately 20-fold lower linear velocity than the recombinant S1 subunit (rS1) in catalyzing the ADP-ribosylation of Gt. In the presence of 0.1 mM ATP, the linear velocities of rS1 and PT were essentially identical. ATP increased the kcat of PT-catalyzed ADP-ribosylation of Gt without altering the Kmapp for either Gt or NAD. Further, in the presence of ATP, PT exhibited similar kinetic constants under conditions of variable Gt and variable NAD as rS1 in catalyzing the ADP-ribosylation of Gt. The S1 subunit of PT was cleaved by chymotrypsin to a single immunoreactive peptide in the absence of ATP, while three immunoreactive peptides were generated in the presence of ATP. The S1 subunit of PT was not cleaved by trypsin in the absence of ATP, at the concentrations of trypsin used, while two immunoreactive peptides were produced in the presence of ATP. The immunoreactive peptides produced either by chymotrypsin or trypsin cleavage of the S1 subunit of PT in the presence of ATP were indistinguishable from those produced by cleavage of rS1 with the same protease. Chymotryptic and tryptic cleavage of rS1 was not altered by ATP. When PT was incubated with ATP prior to Bio-Gel P-100 gel filtration, approximately 8% of the S1 subunit dissociated from the B oligomer, as determined by ADP-ribosyltransferase assays of the column eluant. This increased to 20% when ATP was included in the column buffer. The presence of dithiothreitol and NAD in addition to ATP did not affect the amount of dissociated S1 subunit. Our data further indicated that activation of PT by ATP was a reversible process. Together, these data showed that ATP quantitatively converted the S1 subunit of PT to a form which was kinetically and conformationally identical with rS1, while only a fraction of the S1 subunit was dissociated from the B oligomer. These results indicate that both S1 subunit which is bound to the B oligomer as well as dissociated S1 subunit are capable of catalyzing the ADP-ribosylation of Gt.