The amino acid sequence of the Alzheimer disease amyloid precursor (ADAP) has been deduced from the corresponding cDNA, and hydropathy analysis of the sequence suggests a receptor-like structure with a single transmembrane domain. The putative cytoplasmic domain of ADAP contains potential sites for serine and threonine phosphorylation. In the present study, synthetic peptides derived from this domain were used as model substrates for various purified protein kinases. Protein kinase C rapidly catalyzed the phosphorylation of a peptide corresponding to amino acid residues 645-661 of ADAP [ADAP peptide(645-661)] on Ser-655. Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II phosphorylated ADAP peptide (645-661) on Thr-654 and Ser-655. This peptide was virtually ineffective as a substrate for cAMP-dependent protein kinase, cGMP-dependent protein kinase, casein kinase II, or insulin receptor protein-tyrosine kinase. When a homogenate of rat cerebral cortex was used as the source of protein kinase, phosphorylation of ADAP peptide(645-661) was stimulated by calcium/phosphatidylserine/diolein to a level 4.6-fold above the basal level of phosphorylation, consistent with a prominent stimulation by protein kinase C. Using rat cerebral cortex synaptosomes prelabeled with 32Pi, a 32P-labeled phosphoprotein of approximately equal to 135 kDa was immunoprecipitated by using antisera prepared against ADAP peptide(597-624), consistent with the possibility that the holoform of ADAP in rat brain is a phosphoprotein. Based on analogy with the effect of phosphorylation by protein kinase C of juxtamembrane residues in the cytoplasmic domain of the epidermal growth factor receptor and the interleukin 2 receptor, phosphorylation of ADAP may target it for internalization.