The phospholipid and fatty acid composition and role of phospholipids in enzyme and transport function of gastric (H+ + K+)-ATPase vesicles was studied using phospholipase A2 (bee venom). The composition (%) was phosphatidyl-choline (PC) 33%; sphingomyelin (sph) 25%; phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) 22%; phosphatidylserine (PS) 11%; and phosphatidylinositol (PI) 8%. The fatty acid composition showed a high degree of unsaturation. In both fresh and lyophilized preparations, even with prolonged incubation, only 50% of phospholipids were hydrolyzed, but the amount of PE and PS disappearing was increased following lyophilization. There was a marked decrease in K+-ATPase activity (75%) but essentially no loss of the associated K+ p-nitrophenyl phosphatase was found. ATPase activity could be largely restored by various phospholipids (PE greater than PC greater than PS). There was also an increase in Mg2+-ATPase activity, partially reversed in fresh preparations by the addition of phospholipids (PE greater than PS greater than PC). Proton transport activity of the preparation was rapidly inhibited, initially due to a large increase in the HCl permeability of the preparation. Associated with these enzymatic and functional changes, the ATP-induced conformational changes, as indicated by circular dichroism spectra were inhibited.